Ministerial-Rank Senior Official Qi Tongsheng Given a Death Sentence with a Two-Year Reprieve

Ministerial-Rank Senior Official Qi Tongsheng Given a Death Sentence with a Two-Year Reprieve (by People News)

[People News] On December 16, 2025, the Intermediate People’s Court of Nanning City, Guangxi, issued a first-instance verdict in the bribery case of Qi Tongsheng, Deputy Director of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee, and former Party Secretary and Chairman of the CPPCC of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The Chinese Communist Party accused him of using his position from January 2004 to November 2021 to accept bribes totaling more than 111 million yuan, and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.

Qi Tongsheng is currently 73 years old and is the oldest “tiger” investigated since the CCP’s 20th National Congress. Public information shows that Qi Tongsheng became Vice Chairman of the People’s Government of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as early as 2005; in January 2013, he became Chairman and Party Secretary of the 10th CPPCC of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; in March 2018, he became Deputy Director of the National CPPCC Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee; he was placed under investigation in October 2024. On March 14, 2025, Qi Tongsheng was expelled from the Party. At that time, the CCP notice listed multiple charges against him, including “long-term engagement in superstitious activities; using public power as a tool to seek private gain.” On March 25, he was arrested. On September 25, the Nanning Intermediate People’s Court held the trial, leading up to this verdict.

For Qi Tongsheng, it is of course extremely suffocating. Taking just over 100 million and getting a death sentence with reprieve — wasn’t it said that ten billion is the line between life and death? Those who took much more than him, even tens of billions, whether big or small officials, were sentenced to more than ten years or even had their cases dropped — aren’t there plenty of such examples? Yang Xiuzhu, former Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Construction, took 253.20 million in bribes and was only sentenced to eight years in prison; Liu Linxiang, former Director of the Budget Office of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, embezzled nearly 400 million in public funds and was only sentenced to ten years in prison; Gao Shan, former Director of the Heshong Street Branch of the Bank of China in Harbin, embezzled 1 billion, yet was only sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Even more outrageous, Wang Yilin, former Chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, allegedly involved in corruption of 900 billion, was only expelled from the Party, and to this day the matter has gone nowhere; Fan Jixiang, former Chairman of China Power Construction Group, with an involved amount of 970 billion, has also not been sentenced to this day. On what grounds does the Party father single him out for such brutal and unjust treatment?

They say he engaged in superstition — how many officials do not engage in superstition? Li Qiang sent people to guard his ancestral house and ancestral graves; Li Keqiang said “people are acting, heaven is watching”; Jiang Zemin worshiped Buddha everywhere and copied the Ksitigarbha Sutra at home… Why are they allowed to engage in superstition?

However, the CCP’s explanation is that the sentence imposed on Qi Tongsheng was still light. The Nanning Intermediate People’s Court said that after being taken into custody, Qi Tongsheng voluntarily confessed to some bribery facts not yet known to the investigative authorities, showed remorse and returned the illicit gains, and therefore issued a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.

So what crimes did Qi Tongsheng voluntarily confess that had not yet been exposed? In fact, when it comes to the CCP’s tiger-hunting, it is well known that economic issues are secondary; the key issue is political loyalty. Therefore, many political prisoners are handled as corruption cases. In other words, Qi Tongsheng’s confession of bribery behavior was secondary; it is very likely that he implicated certain colleagues or other officials.

So who would Qi Tongsheng implicate? Qi Tongsheng was a senior official within the CPPCC system. Looking at senior officials in the CPPCC system who have recently fallen and been announced by the CCP, they include: yesterday, December 16, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection opened a case for review and investigation into Hu Youtao, former Party Group member and Vice Chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial CPPCC; on December 15, an investigation into Dai Beifang, former Chairman of the Shenzhen Municipal CPPCC in Guangdong Province; on December 8, Bi Jingquan, former Standing Committee member of the 14th National CPPCC and former Deputy Director of the Economic Committee, was “double expelled”; and Peng Xiaochun, former Party Group member and Vice Chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region CPPCC, was expelled from the Party. All of their charges involved serious violations of discipline and law.

Whether the downfall of multiple ministerial-level officials in the CPPCC system is related to Qi Tongsheng is unknown. However, likewise involving voluntary confession of crimes and meritorious service, there are plenty of Party officials who were later given reduced or lighter sentences. For example, Zhang Zhongsheng, former Vice Mayor of Lüliang City, Shanxi Province, was originally sentenced to death by the Linfen Intermediate People’s Court of Shanxi Province for accepting more than 1.04 billion in bribes. However, three and a half years later, in the second-instance trial, Zhang Zhongsheng was unexpectedly commuted to a death sentence with reprieve, mainly on the grounds that he confessed to other crimes and had “meritorious service.”

By comparison, why does Qi Tongsheng, who took just over 100 million and also had meritorious service, not receive a lighter sentence?

Du Wen, who once served as Deputy Director of the Legal Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia Legal Affairs Office, once said that the key depends on what kind of merit you have rendered. If you say what the investigators want to hear, that counts as meritorious service; if you reveal secrets the investigators want to keep or officials they want to protect, that is undoubtedly like setting fire to your ancestral graves or pulling out a fire cupping through the anus — courting death. He said that in handling fallen CCP officials, especially some big figures, they will all place their own informants within the CCDI’s professional teams to prevent the situation from spreading. Seen this way, the answer is clear: the merit established by Qi Tongsheng did not move the hearts of the CCP’s “big figures.”

After Qi Tongsheng was sentenced, this year alone, 56 centrally managed cadres have received sentences, including former Central Committee member and former Deputy Director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress Luo Baoming, and former Standing Committee member of the 14th National CPPCC and former Deputy Director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee Gou Zhongwen. Yet among them, there are many who embezzled more than 200 million and were lightly sentenced; in the past, there have been countless officials, big and small, who took 100 million and were sentenced to only a few years or more than ten years. In addition, this year, nearly ten ministerial-level officials have fallen. Just by looking at the amounts they embezzled and the sentences they received, one can see how arbitrary the CCP’s conviction of Party officials is.

(People News exclusive first publication)
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