Competing on Family Connections: "Miao Hua" Falls from Grace, Leaving His Mother Stunned

Caption: Rumors from Beijing suggest plans to bring down the "New Gang of Four." (Illustration by People News)

[People News] We’ve often heard about stories of families of high-ranking CCP officials relying on their fathers or husbands for privilege, with phrases like "My dad is Li Gang," "My grandfather is the mayor," or "My husband is the police chief." However, it’s rare to hear, "My son is the director." After Miao Hua’s downfall, this unusual statement surfaced in rumors.

Reports circulating on social media platforms like X over the past two days suggest that after Miao Hua’s fall, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s special investigation team raided his home, leaving his elderly mother reportedly dumbfounded. Former mainland journalist Zhao Lanjian posted exclusive updates on X under the titles “Exclusive Report: A Senior Official’s Mother at the Retirement Complex” and “Red Arrogance: An Old Revolutionary’s Luxurious Daily Life.” He wrote: “A friend familiar with Miao Hua’s mother shared with me details about her domineering lifestyle as an ‘old revolutionary.’ Miao Hua’s mother lived in the eighth retirement complex on Bailong Road and was famously overbearing. She refused to share elevators with others. The complex provided chairs at every hallway entrance for elderly residents to rest. If she saw someone sitting on a chair near her hallway, she would chase them away, asserting it as her exclusive seat. The head nurse at the complex's clinic effectively became Miao Hua’s mother’s private nurse. The nurse accompanied her on daily walks, monitored her blood pressure and blood sugar at home, and even had a private car and chauffeur assigned to her. The main hospital’s geriatrics department reserved a bed for Miao Hua’s mother at all times, ensuring she could be admitted whenever she wished.” These accounts shed light on the extraordinary privileges enjoyed by the families of some high-ranking officials, even in their personal and healthcare arrangements.

A blogger named "Lao Sun Tou" posted a message claiming that Miao Hua's elderly mother lived in their retirement complex and was extremely domineering. For example, if she was in the elevator and someone else entered, she would demand they leave. When others in the complex needed to visit the hospital, they took the shuttle bus, but she had a private car with an attendant accompanying her. Truly, "when one person becomes an official, even the chickens and dogs rise to heaven." After Miao Hua's fall, the Discipline Inspection Commission reportedly searched his home, leaving his mother stunned and no longer her haughty self.

Such rumors in the context of the CCP officialdom are more often believed than doubted because they align with the systemic behavior in the CCP hierarchy. Of course, there are also those who prefer not to believe such news.

Do you remember the incident in Liyang involving a baby being hit? In Jiangsu’s Liyang, a young female driver reversed her car at the entrance of the Pingling Market and hit a baby sitting in a stroller. The baby’s grandmother (or nanny), in her 50s, rushed forward to question her, asking, "How do you drive?" The young driver got out of her car and slapped the woman twice, saying, "My husband is the bureau chief!" Later, hundreds of onlookers surrounded the car, blocking traffic for two hours. It was later revealed that the 23-year-old driver was the bureau chief’s mistress. Without the chief’s protection, would she have dared to act so boldly?

From "My dad is Li Gang" to "My husband is the bureau chief," and now rumors of "My son is Director Miao Hua," people wonder: Why do the families of CCP officials, supposedly dedicated to "serving the people wholeheartedly," act so arrogant toward the public? Or is it because people are willing to believe in the audacity of CCP official families?

According to the CCP’s rhetoric, officials are selfless, devoted to public service, and uphold equality. They are forbidden to exploit or abuse their power, let alone maintain extramarital affairs. Back in 1949, the "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention" explicitly prohibited the harassment of women. Yet now, it is rumored that Miao Hua, a proletarian official, embezzled nearly 50 million yuan. Of course, in the world of corrupt officials, 50 million is considered a small sum. Even spending that amount just to cover Miao Hua's parents’ healthcare and longevity expenses raises doubts about its sufficiency.

The living conditions of senior CCP officials and their families in Zhongnanhai are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Just the cost of their special food supplies could reach tens of millions or even billions of yuan annually for a single household. So if their family members develop an entitled attitude, is it really surprising? As for rumors of Miao Hua’s mother being left "stunned," unable to adjust, or even crying and protesting for the Party to explain why bigger corrupt officials aren’t being arrested, that’s understandable. After all, she was used to her arrogant lifestyle. Nobody could have predicted that Zhongnanhai would produce a "gray rhino" like Miao Hua.

If the residents of the retirement complex were usually wary of Miao Hua’s mother, that’s also reasonable. People know that CCP officials wield enormous power. Without flattery or compliance, how could one have peace of mind? In a dictatorship like the CCP, the personnel system is top-down rather than democratically elected. Once labeled as part of a "whole-process democracy" and appointed as "servants of the people" by their superiors, officials and their families can flaunt their superiority, enjoy privileges beyond the law and ethics, and remain unaccountable. For people like us to be so shocked by the rumor that "Miao Hua’s mother was stunned" simply shows our lack of worldly experience—what Jiang Zemin might describe in his English phrase as being "too young, too simple."