Chants of “Xi Jinping Step Down” Reportedly Heard in State Council Building; Former Aide of Li Keqiang Arrested

Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

[People News] On the morning of August 30 (Beijing time), Hu Liren, a former Shanghai entrepreneur now living in exile in the U.S., revealed on his YouTube channel that a senior official in Zhongnanhai told him: on the afternoon of August 29, inside the State Council office building in Zhongnanhai, someone suddenly shouted repeatedly, “Xi Jinping step down!” The shouting echoed throughout the building, and the official was immediately taken away. His friend also disclosed that this official had once worked under the late Premier Li Keqiang.

Hu recounted: “At midnight yesterday (29th), a senior official working in Zhongnanhai told me that at around 3 p.m. on August 28 in Beijing, inside the State Council office, someone suddenly shouted ‘Xi Jinping step down!’ multiple times, the sound filling the entire building. Afterwards, the official was subdued on the spot and taken away.”

Hu emphasized that once such incidents occur, they are subject to strict information lockdown. Up to now, there has been no official report of this event, nor could it ever appear in Party outlets such as Xinhua or People’s Daily.

According to Hu’s friend, the detained official had worked in the State Council General Office for more than six years, was about 40 years old, from southern China, and had once handled daily affairs coordination in the Secretariat during Li Keqiang’s premiership. His name is currently being withheld.

In response to questions from Dajiyuan, Hu said a ministerial-level official had deliberately told him this, though he could not reveal the exact source.

Hu noted that in a dictatorship, the biggest taboo is not ordinary people’s grumbling, but instability and division at the top. If such rumors spread—even just whispers—they can trigger immense uncertainty both inside and outside the system.

He analyzed that for a senior official inside the State Council offices to publicly shout “Xi Jinping step down” may stem from:

  1. Extreme anger and despair. In Xi’s era of absolute control, even private complaints can become political issues, leaving officials so repressed that they finally choose a desperate break.

  2. Blocked career prospects. Due to anti-corruption campaigns and factional struggles, ministerial or vice-provincial officials have been reduced to powerless figureheads.

  3. Strong dissatisfaction with Xi Jinping’s policies.

Thus, under such circumstances, more and more within the system may harbor the thought “Xi Jinping step down,” though no one dares to say it aloud.

Hu believes this indicates that even within the CCP, some can no longer endure it. The so-called “Xi Core” is not solid as steel, and loyalty inside the system is not unbreakable. Such rumors will spread like a plague, causing invisible shocks.

He predicted the detained official would certainly be investigated and held in isolation. The CCP would intensify internal purges, and Xi would likely order another round of “cleansing political risks” in the State Council and Central Office systems, demanding all officials pledge loyalty.

On August 29, the CCP Politburo held a meeting with its first agenda item being the review of the so-called Regulations on Ideological and Political Work of the Chinese Communist Party. The meeting stressed putting “Xi Jinping Thought” at the forefront of ideological education and strengthening “the Party’s comprehensive leadership over ideological and political work.”

Independent commentator Cai Shenkun wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that this is the first time the CCP has issued such ideological regulations. Drafted by the Secretariat under Cai Qi according to Xi’s wishes, this “Party law” treats ideological loyalty as legal requirement—something even Mao Zedong never did so brazenly. He predicted this would soon spark a nationwide campaign of praising Xi.

Current affairs commentator Li Lin also told Dajiyuan that this new rule on political loyalty shows there are serious loyalty problems within the Party. But as people’s hearts change, imposing iron discipline will backfire. Thus, this move is clearly the CCP’s last dying struggle: even if on the surface there is a chorus of praise for Xi, behind the scenes there is cursing, with everyone waiting for the chance to kick him out.

Since August, voices of resistance against CCP tyranny and calls for “Xi Jinping step down” have been continuous among the public.

  • In Jiangyou, Sichuan, crowds shouted “Down with the Communist Party” and “Xi Jinping step down.”

  • In Kunming, Yunnan, a man stood outside the War of Resistance Victory Memorial Hall holding a banner that read “Xi Jinping, leave.”

  • In Langfang, Hebei, slogans appeared on street utility poles reading “The CCP ≠ China.”

  • Videos circulating on overseas platforms show graffiti in Beijing public toilets saying “The CCP should have perished long ago” and “Down with Xi Jinping.”

  • Most recently, on the night of August 29 at 10 p.m., huge anti-CCP projection banners appeared on high-rise buildings in Xijie, University Town, Chongqing, lasting more than 50 minutes.

Projected slogans included:

  • “Only without the Communist Party can there be a New China. Freedom is not a gift—it must be taken back.”

  • “Rise up, those unwilling to be slaves; rise up to resist and reclaim your rights.”

  • “Down with Red Fascism; overthrow CCP tyranny.”

  • “No more lies, we want truth. No more slavery, we want freedom. Down with the tyrannical Communist Party.”