Seeking revenge for Xu Qiliang? What was Xi Jinping muttering when meeting Xu’s family?

Seeking revenge for Xu Qiliang? What was Xi Jinping muttering when meeting Xu's family? The strange seven seconds at Xu Qiliang's funeral. Rumors say he will replace Xi Jinping. Is something big about to happen? Citibank abruptly lays off 3,500 employees in Shanghai and Dalian. Generous severance packages spark buzz in China. Beijing approves. Limited rare earth exports before key talks with US. The largest personal data leak in China's history. China lockdowns bankrupt young entrepreneur. I'd rather risk my life than stay. Welcome back to New Century, where facts matter, and every story is told with integrity. Seeking revenge for Xu Qiliang? What was Xi Jinping muttering when meeting Xu's family? The strange seven seconds at Xu Qiliang's funeral. On June 8, 2025, the CCP held a high-profile state funeral for Xu Qiliang. Widely seen as an effort to control public opinion and create the appearance of unity and stability within its ranks. But despite the carefully staged coverage, even state-run media couldn't fully hide signs of internal tension. The first and most obvious, three key figures were noticeably absent from the ceremony. The most glaring absence was Xi Jinping's wife, Peng Liyuan. State media footage clearly showed Xi attending, leading the current seven-member Politburo Standing Committee. But Peng, who had attended Li Keqiang's funeral with Xi, was nowhere to be seen. Even her name was missing from the floral wreath, a stark contrast to previous protocol. Given her long absence from public view and recent disappearances from other state occasions, many are speculating that Peng is either in trouble or under some form of restriction. Her no-show at such a high-level funeral raises serious questions. The second missing figure was Han Zheng, China's current vice president. At Li Keqiang's memorial, Han had appeared right after the Standing Committee members, a clear sign of his continuing senior status. But for Xu's funeral? Nothing. Not a glimpse. For someone of his rank, skipping a funeral for a former top military leader isn't a casual decision. Analysts suggest this was deliberate. Perhaps Han is distancing himself from the Xi Jinping circle, trying to avoid being dragged down if the Xi faction falls further from power. The third missing figure was He Weidong. Among all the wreaths sent by the CCP Politburo, only one name was missing. Vice Chairman He Weidong. In a live CCTV broadcast, as Xi Jinping paid tribute to the deceased, the camera panned across a row of wreaths placed along the wall. In the section for non-Standing Committee Politburo members, there were four wreaths, each bearing the names of four members, totalling 16 people. Including the seven Standing Committee members who sent individual wreaths, the total count was 23. Out of 24 Politburo members, only He Weidong was missing. Independent political commentator Kai Shenkun wrote on PlatformX that the biggest signal at Xu Qilin's funeral was the death of He Weidong. He was the only Politburo member who didn't send a wreath. Kai believes this clearly indicates he is no longer part of the Politburo and no longer enjoys the treatment of one. Therefore, he is unlikely to be on vacation or commanding operations near Taiwan. The only logical explanation is that He Weidong had an accident and is dead. Xi Jinping's mysterious seven seconds at the funeral. At Xu Qilin's memorial, Xi Jinping appeared visibly grim. His expression was dark throughout the ceremony and his interaction with Xu's family stood out as unusually tense. One particular moment drew attention. When Xi shook hands with a family member of Xu, the handshake lasted for a full seven seconds. During that pause, Xi seemed to be quietly murmuring something. Footage captured by state-run media isn't crystal clear, but if you watch closely, there's a faint sense that Xi was speaking, even though his lips barely moved. It looked like he was whispering with extreme caution, as if passing on a secret message. The family member responded with a subtle nod. From a distance, it looked like an awkwardly long handshake, but up close, it was clear. They were communicating, carefully and in silence. What could Xi have said? Was it a denial, a reassurance, or something else entirely? No one knows. But if the current leadership views it as sensitive, that private exchange could raise questions later. By contrast, Xu Qilin's family greeted other Politburo standing committee members with warmth, hugs, open gestures, and comfort. But with Xi, everything felt stiff and formal, limited to that one guarded handshake. Observers have noted that, unlike Li Keqiang, whose death was reportedly health-related, Xu Qilin's passing during a jog raised more suspicion. Some believe anti-Xi forces may have acted, both to strike Xi's camp and to avenge Li's mysterious drowning. When Xi met Li's widow in the past, the interaction was more natural, though the atmosphere was still tense. Xi gave off a strange dark energy, while Li's wife and daughter seemed to carry unspoken resentment. So why did Xi look even more solemn when meeting Xu's family? The only reasonable explanation? Both sides were trying to avoid drawing attention. Xi is now a sensitive figure, no longer seen as fully in control. Xu Qilin's family may want to keep their distance, perhaps even blame Xi for Xu's death. On Xi's side, there may be guilt and a desire not to bring them more trouble. That's why the interaction felt restrained. And yet, beneath that tension, it still seemed like a hidden message was quietly exchanged. Rumors say he will replace Xi Jinping. Is something big about to happen? In recent days, political watchers around the world have been captivated by one burning question. Is Wang Yang about to replace Xi Jinping? And more importantly, is China on the brink of its biggest leadership change in decades? The rumor mill began churning shortly after the third plenary session of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Whispers started circulating that Xi Jinping had lost his grip on power. Some claimed he was under house arrest. Others said he had handed over authority. And a few even suggested he was under internal control by rival factions. While the public was still trying to separate fact from fiction, an even more startling report emerged from within the CCP itself. The claim? That Wang Yang, a retired and once overlooked former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, is set to replace Xi Jinping as General Secretary. Some sources have gone so far as to allege that Wang has already begun performing the duties of General Secretary behind closed doors. What adds a bizarre twist to this political drama is the sudden reappearance of an ancient prophecy. In 1997, a senior monk from Mount Zhuhua reportedly delivered a cryptic six-character phrase, translated roughly as At first glance, this sounds like little more than mysticism. But the details are striking. Wang Yang was born on March 5th, 1955, a young year by the Chinese zodiac. So that part fits. The name Wang Gong also seems eerily aligned with Wang's trajectory. Wang could refer directly to his surname. And Gong in classical Chinese could mean someone elevated or offered to the throne. The origin of the prophecy is just as fascinating. After Deng Xiaoping's death in 1997, then-leader Jiang Zemin allegedly traveled in secret to Mount Zhuhua to consult this monk about the party's future. For a long time, the monk said nothing. Finally, he broke his silence with that single mysterious line. Jiang, startled, believed it referred to the reformist leader who had been purged after the Tiananmen incident and was born in a young year. Panicked, Jiang immediately increased Zhao's house arrest, installing electric fences, boosting surveillance, and limiting all contact. But Zhao Ziyang died in 2005 without ever returning to political life. Jiang reportedly began to question whether he had misread the message. Could the young year person have been someone else all along? While all this was happening in the shadows, Wang Yang was quietly rising through the party ranks. His political path, as chronicled by journalist Yuan Bin in a recent article, was anything but conventional. Unlike former premier Li Keqiang, Wang never attended an elite university. He emerged from the grassroots level in the late 1970s, at a time when China was desperate for young reformist talent after the Cultural Revolution. By the age of 26, Wang had become deputy secretary of a regional youth league. By 33, he was the mayor of Tongling, one of the youngest in the country. His rise was matched by a radical approach to governance. As mayor, Wang dismantled what were known as the three irons. The iron rice bowl, lifetime job security, iron wages, and iron transactions. These bold moves directly challenged China's planned economy. In 1991, he wrote a widely discussed article titled, urging China to break free from outdated thinking. His ideas caught the attention of Deng Xiaoping, who personally praised him during his southern tour in 1992, and nicknamed him the child mayor. Later, in top posts in Chongqing and Guangdong, Wang continued to defy party orthodoxy. He refused to suppress the media, didn't order violent crackdowns on protests, and even allowed the villagers of Wuhan to elect their own leaders. He pushed for government transparency, called for officials to declare their assets, and eased restrictions on NGOs. Then came the quote that would cement his legacy as a reformer. We must eliminate the mistaken notion that the people's happiness is a gift from the party and the government. In China's tightly controlled media landscape, the quote exploded, shared more than 60,000 times in a single day. It was a direct challenge to one of the party's most sacred slogans. Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China. Wang was, in effect, saying that the people's well-being came not from the party, but from themselves. This wasn't just rhetoric. It was a declaration of ideological independence. From his early career to his public statements, Wang Yang has consistently stood at odds with the party's hardline doctrine. And that makes him dangerous to those at the top. While both Wang Yang and Li Keqiang were labeled reformists, analysts argue that Wang went much further. Li remained within institutional boundaries. Wang, by contrast, espoused views that aligned more closely with former liberal leaders Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, both of whom were purged. Now, as we connect the dots, the leaked rumors from within the CCP, the resurfaced prophecy from Mount Zhuhua, and Wang's decades-long path of disruption, it's clear that something deeper may be unfolding. With Wang Gong, the accelerator, said to have driven the party to the edge of crisis, and with other military figures reportedly staging internal moves at the third plenary session, some observers believe the current leadership is nearing its breaking point. The big question, could Wang Yang now take the stage? Could he become the final straw that breaks the Chinese Communist Party from within? Was the prophecy merely coincidence, or has destiny already cast its vote? As always in Chinese politics, the surface remains calm, but beneath it, a historic shift could already be underway. Let's wait and see. Citibank abruptly lays off 3,500 employees in Shanghai and Dalian. Generous severance packages spark buzz in China. Shanghai, June 9, 2025. In a move that stunned employees and captured national attention in China, Citibank abruptly laid off 3,500 staff from its Shanghai and Dalian offices, virtually overnight. The layoffs, which primarily affected the bank's technology teams, were implemented with no prior warning, and were accompanied by unusually generous severance packages, fueling widespread online discussion. According to multiple accounts from now-former employees, the layoffs were announced during a sudden internal meeting on the evening of June 5. Many staff members reported that they were still participating in late-night meetings when they received notice the next morning that the entire office would be shut down. Within a day, operations had ceased, and the Shanghai office was reportedly vacated entirely. What has especially drawn attention and a measure of envy across Chinese social media platforms is the scale of compensation offered. Employees received severance calculated by the formula n.ply6, where n represents the number of years served, plus an additional three months of paid leave. Even those who had worked for less than a year reportedly received compensation equivalent to 10 months of salary. For instance, a tech worker earning 30,000 RMB per month, approximately 4,100 U.S. dollars, with four years of service, would be entitled to 390,000 RMB, or around 53,700 U.S. dollars in severance. Some long-serving employees have reported packages approaching 1,000,000 RMB, or about 137,000 U.S. dollars. The manner in which the layoffs were handled, swift yet orderly with clear communication and logistical support, stood in stark contrast to what many Chinese workers experience at domestic firms. Videos posted to platforms like Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and Xiaohongshu, Little Red Book, showed employees calmly packing their belongings, documenting their now-empty desks, and expressing bittersweet emotions about leaving what many described as a dream workplace. Former employees spoke fondly of Citibank's work culture, which reportedly included no rigid KPI tracking, no clock-ins, a healthy work-life balance, supportive management, and robust employee benefits, including double salary for maternity leave and consistent holiday perks. I thought I'd retire here, wrote one employee. Now it's over in a flash, but at least they let us go with dignity and a proper farewell. The incident quickly became one of the top trending topics on Chinese social media, sparking not only sympathy and nostalgia, but also heated comparisons between multinational companies and Chinese domestic employers. While not the focus, many netizens criticized local firms for avoiding severance responsibilities by reassigning employees to undesirable roles, imposing unrealistic performance goals, or leveraging vague disciplinary actions to force resignations. By contrast, Citibank's handling of the layoffs was widely viewed as professional, humane, and in full compliance with Chinese labor laws. This isn't a layoff, it's a lottery win, one user joked. Another commented, Citibank just taught Chinese companies how to treat people properly. This is not the first time a major foreign firm has drawn attention in China for its exit strategy. Microsoft's Shanghai branch also recently made headlines after awarding a 12-year employee an N plus 8 severance package. Meanwhile, some domestic companies are reported to offer little more than N plus 1 or nothing at all, even after months of delayed wages or unilateral contract terminations. While Citibank announced years ago its plan to wind down its consumer banking operations in China, the scale and speed of this latest move signals a broader shift. Foreign firms have been gradually pulling out of the Chinese market in recent years amid geopolitical tensions, increasing regulatory burdens, and evolving global strategies. For the employees affected, the generous compensation provides temporary financial relief. But it also highlights the growing uncertainty in China's job market, especially for those with mortgages and high living costs. Many former Citibank staff expressed concern about the difficulty of finding equally stable and well-paying employment in the current environment. I still have house payments to make, one laid-off worker said. Even with this package, how long can I hold out without a job? Still, many said they were grateful for how the bank handled the transition. As one former employee put it, If we have to go, at least we were given a soft landing. That's rare these days. Beijing approves Limited rare earth exports before key talks with US. China has approved a number of export licenses for rare earth elements. Just a day before high-stakes trade talks with the United States are set to begin in London. The announcement, made late on June 7 by China's Ministry of Commerce, signals a potentially significant move in ongoing efforts to stabilize global supply chains and ease trade tensions between the two economic powers. In the statement, Chinese authorities acknowledge that global demand for medium and heavy rare earths continues to rise. Especially as industries like robotics, electric vehicles, and green energy expand rapidly. While the ministry confirmed that certain qualified applications for rare earth exports have been approved in accordance with Chinese law, it did not specify which companies or countries would benefit from the licenses. Rare earths, 17 critical metals used in technologies ranging from smartphones and medical devices to advanced military hardware, have become a focal point in the broader trade conflict between China and the West. China currently dominates the global rare earth supply chain, controlling around 70% of mining and 90% of processing capacity. According to a 2023 report by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, in April, Beijing tightened its grip on rare earth exports by adding seven elements, including dysprosium, terbium, and gadolinium, to a strict export control list. Under the new rules, companies must obtain specific licenses for each shipment and declare the intended use of the materials. The changes led to supply disruptions, with some European automakers even halting production temporarily due to shortages. The latest export approval comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump described the conversation as very good and later stated that issues concerning rare earths had been resolved. There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of rare earth products, he said. However, China's foreign ministry did not mention rare earths in its summary of the call, and when pressed for details, referred questions back to the commerce ministry. The upcoming meeting in London is expected to focus heavily on rare earths and other strategic minerals. Leading the U.S. delegation are Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. On the Chinese side, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will head the delegation during his five-day visit to the United Kingdom. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CBS that while the flow of rare earth exports from China has improved, it still hasn't reached the levels the U.S. believes were agreed upon during previous negotiations in Geneva. He expressed confidence that a deal is near, saying, I'm very comfortable that this deal is about to be closed. With talks set to begin on June 9, the developments around rare earths could prove to be a turning point in the broader trade relationship between the world's two largest economies. The largest personal data leak in China's history. A massive data leak has once again occurred in China, with over 4 billion records exposed, including sensitive information such as WeChat data, Alipay transactions, residential addresses, and more. Three weeks have passed, and the Chinese Communist Party has remained silent. Foreign media also discovered a dataset suspected to be related to Taiwan. According to a report by CyberNews on May 19, a Chinese database containing over 4 billion records was leaked. The research team believes that the database was meticulously collected and maintained, covering nearly all behavioral, economic, and social activities of Chinese citizens. Information from WeChat and Alipay accounts was fully exposed. Among the leaked data, over 805 million records were related to WeChat users, followed by 780 million address records and 630 million financial records. In addition, another dataset was found with a name suggesting a connection to Taiwan. The research team noted that the leak was quickly discovered and the content swiftly deleted, making it impossible to identify the owner. However, they emphasized that only hackers, governments, or research institutions would be capable of collecting and maintaining data on such a large scale. This is not the first time China has faced a major data leak. In 2022, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau was suspected of leaking 1 billion resident records and several billion COVID-related data entries. Yet again, the CCP has issued no official response. China Lockdown's Bankrupt Young Entrepreneur I'd rather risk my life than stay. A young Chinese entrepreneur reveals how extreme lockdowns pushed him to bankruptcy and why he risked everything to flee to the US. Meet Song Zhehang, a 90s-born businessman from Lianyonggang, Jiangsu. Before the pandemic, he successfully ran seven companies. But under China's harsh zero-COVID policies, all his businesses were shut down, repeatedly, despite zero local cases. We had no infections, yet they locked us down dozens of times, Song says. They even nailed barricades to my restaurant door. Food shortages, price gouging, and restrictions hit ordinary people the hardest. Song recalls being trapped on a highway for two weeks as no fuel, no food. Meanwhile, well-connected locals profited from the chaos. He also questions China's official COVID data, comparing it to an alternate reality. It felt like the rest of the world had moved on. But in China, it was like the apocalypse. Except we were told we were winning. Banks pulled his funding. Government support? Never reached him. Delayed project payments and political red tape left him with nothing. By the time the lockdowns ended, his seven businesses had collapsed. That day, my career—and my hope—ended. Seeing no future, Song made a desperate decision. Escape China via an illegal route to the US. Better a hard life in freedom than no life at all. This is just one of many voices exposing the real cost of China's pandemic policy. Not just in dollars, but in human lives and trust. Thank you for watching NewCentury. If you believe in honest journalism and independent thinking, don't forget to subscribe, leave a comment, and share your thoughts. Until next time, stay informed, stay thoughtful, and take care.