Did Hu Chunhua Betray His Mentor? Hu Jintao Was Actually Dragged into This Room by Xi Jinping! Big Trouble in Fujian: Former Richest Man Arrested, Xi Orders the Harvesting of Fat Leeks + a Great Purge! U.S. State Department Sounds the Alarm: The CCP Will Arrest Americans in China! (Old Beijing Teahouse / Episode 1784 / 2026 / 10/25)

This episode mainly discusses the mystery surrounding Hu Chunhua's whereabouts, the history and inner workings of power at Zhongnanhai—the core office area of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—and the Eighth Hall of the Great Hall of the People. It details the background of the arrest of Lin Xiucheng, the former richest man in Fujian, tracing his intricate connections to the political earthquake in Chongqing officialdom and the Fujian clique, while drawing comparisons to the Sun Dawu case. Additionally, it broadcasts the unlawful detention travel advisory issued by the U.S. Department of State regarding China, as well as recent electric vehicle spontaneous combustion and new energy vehicle accidents across various regions in China.

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As the story goes, on October 22, the Long March commemoration meeting was attended by over 3,000 people. CCTV footage swept across the podium; of the 22 vice chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), 18 were present. Among the 4 who were absent, 3 had valid reasons, and only Hu Chunhua did not. Hu Chunhua's last public appearance was on September 28, and he has had no news for over a month since. Former Inner Mongolia official Du Wen posted online that he inquired through various channels and confirmed that Hu Chunhua and his family could no longer be contacted, and a high-ranking official remarked that the other shoe had finally dropped. Why is Hu Chunhua so closely watched? Because of his special status. Born in 1963, he served as a member of the Political Bureau and Vice Premier. At the 18th National Congress, he was a key successor carefully groomed by the faction of Hu Jintao and Li Keqiang, earning the popular nickname "deposed crown prince," meaning he was once a crown prince who ultimately failed to ascend. Recalling that classic scene from back then, Hu Chunhua stood with his hands crossed in front of his chest, wearing an expression of grievance yet helplessness, silently watching the back of Hu Jintao's head as he was escorted out of the conference venue. However, an unsolved mystery that has long been overlooked by gossiping onlookers lingers in the minds of the public: where on earth was Hu Jintao escorted to? Today, the mystery is finally revealed. Please listen to the insider revelations from Source A, an insider inside the system close to Zhongnanhai. Source A stated that the so-called inner court of the CCP's secret language system has always been an extremely mysterious entity. The daily activities of Beijing's top policy-makers are not limited to Zhongnanhai, but also include the Great Hall of the People, Diaoyutai, Yuquan Mountain, and the Xijiao Hotel. These five heavily guarded policy-making and staff office locations, where entry is strictly by invitation only, are collectively referred to by me as the Forbidden Grounds. I once worked in the Great Hall of the People for a year and frequently entered and exited Zhongnanhai, making me quite familiar with both places, and I have also personally visited the other three. In December 1985, I was invited to the Xiangshan Villa to attend the Xiangshan Conference. What was the Xiangshan Conference? It was a seminar for young and middle-aged cadres convened by the Institute of Economic Reform, a think tank under Zhao Ziyang where I later worked. Many participants came from central XX institutions, but most of these institutions worked outside the Forbidden Grounds. The most prominent feature of the CCP's Forbidden Grounds is their mystery and privilege. Unveiling this veil helps the world see how the CCP's top leadership operates power. Next, based on my personal experiences and observations, I will analyze the internal monitoring mechanisms and power struggles.

Among the five major forbidden zones in Beijing—Zhongnanhai, the Great Hall of the People, Diaoyutai, Yuquanshan, and the Jingxi Hotel—the most important is undoubtedly Zhongnanhai. Zhongnanhai was originally a royal garden spanning five dynasties from the Liao to the Qing. The Mongol nomadic people of the Yuan Dynasty were accustomed to calling land-locked lakes 'seas,' and at that time, a series of connected water bodies including Beihai, Zhonghai, and Nanhai were established on the west side of Beijing. Zhongnanhai is thus composed of the two royal water bodies of Zhonghai and Nanhai and the surrounding palace gardens. After Mao Zedong established his regime, he lived in the southern section of Zhongnanhai, and the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, which served him, worked there as well. For the convenience of consulting Mao at any time, Zhou Enlai moved into the northern section, and the General Office of the State Council was subsequently established there, which led to the division of Zhongnanhai into northern and southern sections. Most people assume that Zhongnanhai is the core location for CCP decision-making, but that is not necessarily true; for the top leadership, wherever the supreme decision-maker lives is the center of decision-making. On the night of the Lin Biao incident on September 13, 1971, Mao Zedong secretly moved out of Zhongnanhai. Fearing that the Air Force, which was close to Lin Biao, might attack by plane, he chose to move into the more secure Great Hall of the People, where he lived in secrecy for several years, causing Zhongnanhai to temporarily recede into a secondary role. By the early 1980s, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, and others were living in various places throughout Beijing. Only Li Xiannian lived in a three-courtyard compound facing south in the northern section of Zhongnanhai. The first courtyard was the Fourth Conference Room of the State Council, where I had attended several meetings, so I was quite familiar with it. Near Li Xiannian's residence was Ziguangge, and on the northeast side was the Gongzi Building, where the State Council think tanks worked. Before I started working at the Great Hall of the People, I had visited the Gongzi Building several times to attend meetings of the State Council's Technical Economic Research Center and the Economic Research Center. During lunch breaks, I often ate at the State Council canteen, where even Vice Premiers would dine. After meals, I would take walks in Zhongnanhai, walking west to Ziguangge and east to the lakeside. I also once strolled south along the lake and discovered that although the boundary between the northern and southern sections was unobstructed, there were sentries blocking personnel from the northern section from driving into the southern section. Later, I also visited the Qinzheng Hall in the southern section, which was the office location of Zhao Ziyang when he served as General Secretary of the CCP. That time, the vehicle drove directly in from the Xinhua Gate on Chang'an Avenue. The Xinhua Gate is the official main entrance to Zhongnanhai; it is not usually open to pedestrians and only allows vehicles to enter. Facing it is a screen wall spanning the gate. Later, a half-foot-high anti-collision threshold was installed at the Xinhua Gate, allowing only the vehicles of state guests to pass. During the Trump-Xi meeting in May 2026, Xi Jinping invited Trump to visit Jinggu in the southern section, which is Xi Jinping's office. News footage showed the anti-collision threshold being lowered to the ground to allow Trump's car to drive straight in. Behind the screen wall is the Nanhai lake. After the car enters the Xinhua Gate, it turns left and hugs the red wall, circling half the lake before reaching the Qinzheng Hall, which sits north and faces south between Zhonghai and Nanhai. To the east are the Yinian Hall and the Chrysanthemum Fragrance Study, where Mao Zedong lived and received guests in his early years. Zhongnanhai is primarily an office space, while the other four forbidden zones are mostly used for important meetings or as residences for high-level officials. The second forbidden zone, the Great Hall of the People, is both an office and foreign affairs venue, and it once served as a weekend dance hall for Mao Zedong and other high-ranking officials, and even acted as Mao's bedroom and refuge. This bedroom later became Deng Xiaoping's private card room. Nominally, Mao Zedong lived in Zhongnanhai for his last ten years, but in reality, he lived secretly for several years in Hall 118 of the Great Hall. This is the only hall in the Great Hall of the People named after a room number, located on the southwest side of the East Hall, in a hidden location with complete facilities. After the Great Hall was completed in 1959, Hall 118 had always served as Mao's temporary residence. At that time, there was no air conditioning in Zhongnanhai, while the Great Hall had constant temperature all year round, warm in winter and cool in summer. The structure of the Great Hall is divided into three sections from north to south: the northern part contains the banquet hall and the state guest meeting hall; the central part contains the Central Hall on the east side and the Great Auditorium on the west side; and the southern part is the office area for the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. When I worked there, I walked from the south building to the north every day. Turning left near the north end of the west corridor and walking to the end, one reaches Hall 118. This hall is located on the south side of the Great Auditorium, making it convenient for Mao Zedong to walk directly onto the rostrum when attending meetings without being noticed. To this day, the vehicles of CCP high-level officials attending meetings still drive directly into the Great Hall through underground secret tunnels; the outside world has never seen their motorcades driving on the streets. After Mao Zedong moved in, the entire Great Hall became his bedroom and refuge. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in the south building was forced to stop working, the entire building was sealed off, and it was equipped with dedicated attendants and an independent kitchen. This hall is very close to the southwest gate, allowing quick access to the underground tunnel connecting to Zhongnanhai, where Mao could travel between the two places by car in the secret passage. In 1972, when U.S. President Nixon and later Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei visited China, they both met Mao Zedong here. During the 10th National Congress of the CCP in 1973, Mao Zedong's health deteriorated and movement became difficult. Zhou Enlai specifically instructed that an emergency oxygen supply center be set up in the basement of Hall 118 and that oxygen supply lines leading directly to the rostrum be installed for backup. As it turned out, the oxygen system was not used, but another incident occurred: after the closing ceremony, Mao sat for a long time and could not stand up, saying to the delegates, 'If you don't leave, I can't leave either.' The stage and the floor fell into a stalemate. Zhou Enlai immediately stood up and said, 'The Chairman wants to watch you leave the venue,' and only then did the delegates leave. Mao then returned to Hall 118 in a wheelchair. After Mao passed away, the hall was sealed for several years. No one expected that the person who would later reopen it as a card room would be Deng Xiaoping. The rules in the forbidden zones are iron laws for others, but for the true masters, their will is the rule. After Deng Xiaoping took power, he used Hall 118 as a card room starting in 1983, often inviting card partners like Go master Nie Weiping to play there for ten years, and occasionally going to Yuquanshan to play bridge. Why not play cards at home? My colleague, Deng Xiaoping's youngest daughter Deng Rong, gave me the answer. Once, while walking home from work, I was curious why she was walking toward Tiananmen, and she said directly, 'Going to Hall 118, my dad is playing cards there.' I asked again, 'Why does your dad come here to play cards?' She replied quite directly, 'How could he crawl under the table at home?'

Deng Xiaoping had established a rule that the loser of a game must crawl under the table, and he was no exception. However, when surrounded by his children and grandchildren at home, he felt embarrassed to do so and would hide in Hall 118. The staff there were well-trained and would simply pretend not to see him. Hall 118 had another function: before attending meetings at the rostrum, high-ranking CCP officials would arrive by car through a secret tunnel from Zhongnanhai, with Hall 118 serving as the assembly point; they would also return there after the meetings. To this day, every time Xi Jinping holds a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, he still prepares in Hall 118 before walking onto the rostrum. Finally, returning to the location where the mystery was revealed: at the closing session of the 20th CCP National Congress in October 2022, when Hu Jintao was escorted off the rostrum, he was also taken to Hall 118. Tea friends, as we were just saying, Hu Jintao was escorted to Hall 118, and Hu Chunhua looked extremely unhappy, standing there with a sullen face. So, do you think Hu Chunhua's recent loss of contact is related to that incident?

Over the past couple of days, major portal websites and social media have been flooded with news that Lin Xiucheng, the former richest man in Fujian, has been formally arrested on charges of suspected occupational embezzlement and misappropriation of funds. In July of this year, Ai Luding, the former richest man in Hubei, founder and chairman of Wuhan Contemporary Group, and head of the Contemporary faction who once controlled an asset empire worth 100 billion yuan, was arrested on charges of suspected illegal absorption of public deposits. Thus, Lin Xiucheng has gloriously become the second former provincial richest man to end up in prison this year. To put it bluntly, the country under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is quite destructive to various richest men. The word "destructive" here refers to the fact that these wealthy individuals were full of ambition just a few years ago, basking in infinite glory on the rich list, only to smoothly end up in prison a few years later to pedal sewing machines. There is a saying that describes this state of affairs most aptly: I watched him build a high building, I watched him feast his guests, I watched his building collapse. There are quite a few representative figures, such as Huang Guangyu, founder of GOME Electrical Appliances, who topped the China rich list four times and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Released in 2021, he still refuses to forget his original aspiration, determined to endure all hardships to revive GOME. Xu Jiayin, the once richest man in Asia, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and homeless people now permanently squat at the porch of his London luxury mansion. The high-ranking officials he dragged down with him are also countless, including former Minister of Justice Tang Yijun, former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Sun Zhigang, former Mayor of Shenzhen Chen Rugui, former Director of the General State Administration of Sports Gou Zhongwen, former member of the Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Haikou Municipal Party Committee Zhang Qi, and former President of the Bank of China Liu Liange, with the list continuing. Besides Xu Jiayin, there is also Zhou Zhengyi, the former richest man in Shanghai, who was imprisoned twice. It is said that Zhou was a hatchet man for the family of Jiang Zemin and enjoyed a moment of great glory on the Shanghai Bund back then. Zhou Zhengyi's case stirred up the core power layer of the CCP and triggered high-level internal struggles, ultimately leading to the downfall of Chen Liangyu, the then Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. As for the lists of various other sentenced tycoons, we will not go into detail here. Returning to this incident involving the former richest man in Fujian, Lin Xiucheng, whose company San'an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. is engaged in the research, development, production, and sales of semiconductor new materials, issued an announcement late in the evening on October 23 stating that the company received a notification from the family of its actual controller, Lin Xiucheng, that Lin Xiucheng had been approved for arrest by the procuratorial organs, and that the company's current production, operation, and management conditions remain normal. Lin Xiucheng has not held any position in the company since July 10, 2017, and this matter is unrelated to the company, nor will it have a major impact on the company's production and operations. Public information shows that Lin Xiucheng is a native of Anxi, Quanzhou, Fujian, which is the place that sells Tieguanyin tea. In his early years, he started out by reselling scrap steel, founded San'an Optoelectronics in 2000, and later transitioned into the LED semiconductor sector. In 2008, San'an Optoelectronics went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange through a backdoor listing, and Lin Xiucheng has been referred to as China's LED King ever since. In 2010, Lin Xiucheng became the richest man in Xiamen on the Forbes Rich List, and in 2015, Lin and his son leaped to become the richest men in Fujian province on the Hurun Rich List with 34 billion yuan in assets. In July 2017, Lin Xiucheng stepped down as chairman, replaced by his eldest son Lin Zhiqiang, while he himself retreated to the position of actual controller. Lin Xiucheng's second son, Lin Zhidong, and his son-in-law, Lin Kechuang, both hold key positions in the San'an system. However, their fate took a turning point this year. From early March to early April, Lin Xiucheng and his son-in-law Lin Kechuang were arrested successively within a span of one month. San'an Optoelectronics has relied on bribery-driven development for decades. With core operations spanning from its headquarters in Xiamen and Quanzhou in Fujian to all over the country, gossip describes the Lin Xiucheng case as another political combustion bomb, just like the Xu Jiayin case. So what was the fuse that detonated this combustion bomb? It turns out to originate from the political earthquake in Chongqing's officialdom. On March 20, Chongqing Mayor Hu Henghua was investigated; a day later, on March 21, Lin Xiucheng was placed under detention; and on April 7, Lin Xiucheng's son-in-law, company vice chairman and general manager Lin Kechuang, was placed under detention. In the Hu Henghua case, Lin Kechuang gave Hu Henghua 30.8 million USDT, worth about 210 million yuan. USDT is a cryptocurrency, a fiat-collateralized stablecoin pegged 1-to-1 with the US dollar, meaning holders can exchange it for US dollars at an equal ratio with the issuer. On April 14, Luo Lin, member of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee of the CCP and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Liangjiang New Area, was taken away. Lin Kechuang had transferred 15.5 million USDT—also over 100 million yuan—to Luo Lin. On April 19, Peng Jing, founding partner and director of the Chongqing Jingsheng Law Firm, was taken away. Caixin reported that Peng Jing, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and an official-descendant female lawyer, was involved in an affair with Luo Lin. Crucially, Caixin mentioned that Peng Jing played an important role in the San'an Optoelectronics bribery case. In fact, before his arrest this time, Lin Xiucheng's experience was somewhat like that of Huang Qifan in officialdom—a political survivor who had twice been implicated in major officialdom cases, one being the Zheng Yunfeng case in Xiamen, and the other the Wang Sanyun and Chen Shulong case, yet he was able to emerge completely unscathed, all because he had connections high up in the family tree. And what does it mean to have connections high up in the family tree? Well, Lin Xiucheng, as a native of Fujian, has intricate ties with Xi Jinping's Fujian faction. Epoch Times sorting revealed that Lin Xiucheng's rise to wealth was basically synchronized with the rise of the Fujian faction, and the waters run rather deep here, with any individual pulled out being formidable. To name a few heavyweights: current Politburo Standing Committee member Cai Qi worked in Fujian for 16 years, current Vice Premier He Lifeng worked in Fujian for 25 years, and Zheng Shanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission of the CCP, worked in Fujian even longer, for about 33 years. Think about how lucrative the post of NDRC director is, so why was Lin Xiucheng safe and sound for so many years, only to trip up this year? The interpretation by China affairs expert Li Linyi makes a lot of sense. He believes that Lin Xiucheng survived multiple previous investigations unscathed possibly because his biggest protective umbrella was right in Zhongnanhai, and these people include Cai Qi, He Lifeng, Zheng Shanjie, and even Xi Jinping himself.

The situation of this incident coming to light only now resembles the religious figure Shi Yongxin being arrested. One reason might be that his actions were too aggressive and triggered dissatisfaction among top leaders, but a bigger reason is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has faced financial difficulties in recent years and needs to step up the plundering of private enterprise wealth. Fat sheep that have been raised for years, like Lin Xiucheng, are just right to be slaughtered—after all, our Party specializes in gangster-style shakedowns.

The Party says the answer is incomplete; our Party is more adept at 'the black eating the white.' Doing a little bit of good for the common people might be feasible for a short time, but doing a lot of good over a long period is absolutely impossible. For details, please refer to the case of Sun Dawu, founder of the Hebei Dawu Group. The Party not only sentenced him to 18 years in prison but also imposed a 'family-extermination' style punishment. Sun Dawu's wife, son, daughter-in-law, and 29 company executives, along with the entire company, were wiped out, and all company assets were frozen. Why was the Party so ruthless toward Sun Dawu, as if they couldn't wait to stomp on him with ten thousand feet? It turns out Sun Dawu did things the Party forbade. Let's briefly review what Sun Dawu did. Dawu's school was a school for the common people, where students' monthly living expenses were only a little over 100 yuan. The Dawu farmers' technical school was free for people across the country. The Dawu Hospital had 1,000 beds and 32 departments; for only 1 yuan a month, employees and villagers could enjoy cooperative medical care, with the hospital promising full responsibility for patients upon entry. Sun Dawu's famous motto was that it is shameful for a hospital to make money. Dawu Group employees enjoyed lifetime employment—unless they voluntarily resigned or engaged in corruption, they could work until retirement—and enjoyed generous welfare, pensions, and medical benefits. The salaries and benefits of senior management could not exceed 10 times those of the workers. You tell me, doesn't Sun Dawu's behavior act like a mirror that reveals demons? You don't even need to look closely; just a flash and the devil that is the CCP is forced to show its true form. As the saying goes, in the ecosystem of the Party-state, only black crows can live well. Among these black crows, some are born black, while a large number have been actively or passively dyed black later, such as the various richest people. Although they belong to different factions, all crows under heaven are equally black. Besides collectively 'blackening' the common people, they also engage in 'black-on-black' cannibalism from time to time. Thus, some eat meat while others drink soup. In such an environment, if there are individual 'white' ones who keep themselves clean and refuse to go along with the corrupt, their fate is almost inevitable: they must be attacked by the masses until they are destroyed.

I'd like to share some information, especially for those who have plans to travel to mainland China recently—please listen carefully. The U.S. Department of State updated its travel advisory for China on October 19. Although the overall travel risk remains at Level 2 (exercise increased caution), it rarely added a 'D' indicator, which stands for 'Wrongful Detention.' What does this mean? The current Trump administration has determined that Americans in China face a serious risk of being wrongfully detained. Therefore, the U.S. Department of State reminds U.S. citizens to exercise increased caution when entering mainland China, as the enforcement of local laws is arbitrary and exit bans may be imposed without fair and transparent legal procedures. In other words, you might be having a great time traveling in the mainland, only to find out at the airport that you may not be able to return to the United States. The U.S. Department of State also listed on its official website the categories of people who might be targeted by the CCP government, including U.S. citizens with Chinese heritage involved in commercial disputes, individuals currently or formerly associated with U.S. law enforcement, the U.S. military, or U.S. intelligence agencies, individuals traveling through programs funded by the U.S. government, and individuals currently or formerly associated with the U.S. government. If you say, 'I am not in any of the target groups above, I'm just playing, taking photos, shopping, and eating, so there's no danger, right?'—that's naive. Senior U.S. travel expert Bobby Laurie reminded U.S. travelers in a Fox interview to always be aware of their surroundings while in China and to think twice before taking photos. He said you might be caught filming street law enforcement officers, or you might accidentally wander into places you shouldn't go, or perhaps you might inadvertently get close to street protests. He also kindly reminded any Americans traveling to China to carry a phone or other electronic device with functions simplified to only include information necessary for travel, because the Party-state's red lines are everywhere. For example, sharing news censored by the Party on social media, discussing religious beliefs, especially criticizing the CCP government, criticizing national leaders—especially criticizing Xi Jinping, which will be punished no matter how far away you are—and spreading the dark side of Chinese society, such as filming the violent enforcement of urban management officers (chengguan), or filming homeless people living under bridges in cities, or shops closing one by one on commercial streets, etc., all of which could hurt the fragile feelings of the Party and the government. The consequences are serious: a wonderful trip turns into a nightmare, you can't return to the U.S., and in severe cases, you might even spend your later years in prison.

After the official warning, let's also provide an unofficial travel warning. What is it? It's that the phenomenon of spontaneous combustion of electric vehicles on the streets of China is hard to guard against. On October 22, in front of a Tesla store in Licheng, Putian, Fujian, a domestic new energy vehicle suddenly caught fire while charging. The fierce fire spread rapidly, igniting vehicles parked nearby. Thick black smoke shot straight into the sky, and explosions were heard at the scene—the scene was horrifying. Also on the evening of the 22nd, an electric vehicle caught fire on the side of the road in Siming District, Xiamen, Fujian. Flames several meters high erupted from the seat, accompanied by explosive sounds; the scene was quite thrilling, though fortunately, there were no casualties. On the evening of October 17, an AITO M9 ran a red light at an intersection in Shenmu, Yulin, Shaanxi, lost control while turning left, and crashed into a square traffic light pole at the intersection. The car immediately caught fire, and the driver could not escape. On April 14, news of a fire at the BYD base in Shenzhen topped the day's trending list. The multi-story parking garage that caught fire held over a thousand test vehicles and scrapped vehicles. It is estimated that the direct loss exceeded 10 million yuan. No wonder some netizens joke that in China, gas cars are driven until they are 'naturally scrapped,' while electric cars are driven until they 'spontaneously combust.' 'China speed' and 'overtaking on a curve' only look beautiful; behind them are the bloody prices paid by the common people. So, a friendly reminder: when traveling in China, try to stay away from parking lots, charging piles, and other places with high fire hazards.