Zhongnanhai’s Sensitive Language in Commemorating Ye Xuanping’s Centennial Sparks Attention on Internal Struggle

The image shows representatives from the Chinese military attending the Two Sessions in Beijing. (Video screenshot)

November 2, 2024 - On November 1, the CCP held a seminar commemorating the 100th anniversary of Ye Xuanping’s birth. CCP National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Chairman Wang Huning attended and met with representatives of Ye Xuanping’s family. During the event, CPPCC Vice Chairman Shi Taifeng emphasized that after retirement, Ye “firmly supported Xi as the core.” In recent years, CCP leader Xi Jinping has had continuous conflicts with the “second red generation” (descendants of revolutionary leaders). Analysts believe that with the economy struggling, Xi faces internal criticism within the Party and needs to continue placating the Ye family, appearing more like an attempt to win over some red aristocratic families to create divisions among them.

Ye Xuanping was the eldest son of CCP Marshal Ye Jianying, born on December 20, 1924. He served as Governor of Guangdong Province and Vice Chairman of the CPPCC. Ye Xuanping passed away in September 2019 at the age of 94, and the Ye family’s descendants have since withdrawn from politics.

Footage on CCTV showed Wang Huning posing for a group photo with more than ten family members of Ye Xuanping, including Ye’s two sons, Ye Xinfu and Ye Xinlong, and grandsons Ye Ding and Ye Zhonghao. Among them, Ye Zhonghao, born in 1983, previously served as director of the Yunfu High-Tech Zone in Guangdong and, since 2020, as Deputy General Manager of Guangdong Hengjian Investment Company.

Shi Taifeng, a member of the CCP Politburo and CPPCC Vice Chairman, said in his speech that after retirement, Ye Xuanping “firmly supported Xi as the core” and recalled Ye’s words: “Whatever the Central Committee prohibits, I certainly won’t do.”

Political commentator Li Linyi told Epoch Times that Shi’s comments clearly reveal Xi’s apprehensions toward the second and third red generations, particularly about those who defy or oppose him. Xi is currently jailing disobedient red second-generation members and marginalizing others as much as possible. However, reports suggest that Xi, facing pressure from the elders due to economic difficulties, used Ye Xuanping’s centennial as an opportunity to appease the Ye family, aiming to win over some red descendants to create division.

According to CCP tradition, commemorations for deceased former vice-ministerial officials include published articles every 50 years and commemorative seminars every 100 years, with small-scale activities held in their birthplace.

In recent years, there have been significant changes within the red aristocratic families.

In Ye Jianying’s family, both Ye Xuanping and Ye Xuanning have passed away, and Ye Jianying’s great-grandson Ye Zhonghao, who initially served in Guangdong’s government, abruptly shifted to a provincial state-owned enterprise for unknown reasons.

Deng Xiaoping’s eldest son, Deng Pufang, stepped down last September from his honorary chairmanship of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation. Deng’s grandson, Deng Zhuodi, was revealed in March 2016 to be the Deputy Party Secretary of Pingguo County, Guangxi, and Party Secretary of Xin’an Town, but left his position the same year, effectively “disappearing” from the political scene.

Deng Xiaoping’s former grandson-in-law, Wu Xiaohui, founder of Anbang Group, was sentenced to 18 years for fundraising fraud on May 10, 2018. The son of Marshal Chen Yi, Chen Xiaolu, was implicated in Wu’s case and passed away on February 28, 2018, due to a massive heart attack in Hainan.

Liu Yuan, son of Liu Shaoqi, was purged from the military by Xi Jinping as early as 2017. Mao Zedong’s grandson, Mao Xinyu, and Li Peng’s daughter, Li Xiaolin, both faded from public view in 2018 and no longer attend the annual Two Sessions.

Li Peng’s son, Li Xiaopeng, recently stepped down as Party Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and has been appointed as Vice Chairman of the CPPCC Economic Committee, signaling a complete move to a secondary role.

Former Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Wang Qishan’s father-in-law was CCP elder Yao Yilin. Wang assisted Xi in the anti-corruption campaign during Xi’s first term. However, in Xi’s second term, Wang served only in a ceremonial role as Vice President, with many of his former associates subsequently ousted.

Retired General Liu Yazhou, also a second-generation red aristocrat and son-in-law of former Chairman Li Xiannian, was reportedly arrested for opposing Xi in December 2021. Multiple sources confirmed earlier this year that he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Furthermore, Ren Zhiqiang, another second-generation red aristocrat, harshly criticized the CCP’s pandemic policies in 2020, calling Xi Jinping a “clown determined to be emperor even if stripped bare.” That same year, he was sentenced to 18 years on corruption charges.

Former Minister of Defense Li Shangfu, another red second-generation official, fell from grace last August and was expelled from the Party and military, with his general rank stripped in June of this year.

Currently, very few second-generation red aristocrats remain in high-ranking positions in the CCP, apart from 74-year-old Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia, Armed Police Commander Wang Chunning, Deputy Head of the United Front Work Department and Director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission Pan Yue, and Executive Deputy Director of the National Security Commission Office Liu Haixing. Zhang Youxia, originally thought to be one of Xi’s staunch supporters, has recently been rumored to have a strained relationship with Xi Jinping.