Xi Jinping Is Purging Everyone Who Could Challenge Him

Xi Jinping is setting the groundwork to ensure that nobody in China will stand in his way. Welcome to China Uncensored, I'm Chris Chappell. Want your very own, for legal reasons I can't call it, Lego Tank Man set made from genuine Lego bricks? Well act now, because in just a few days it will be gone, gone, gone forever. You only have till October 31st, Halloween. Missing this deal is truly terrifying. Put it on your desk during Zoom calls. Show your family who you really love. LEGO TANK MAN! Just click the link in the pinned comment below to find out how you can get one before time runs out. This just in! China's Communist Party has reportedly convened a secret four-day meeting of its top officials. Wow! So what SECRET four-day meeting could Polly Market have possibly uncovered? Why, the four-day meeting that everybody, including the Chinese Communist Party, publicly talks about every five years. The Fifth Plenum. Which sounds like the part of your tongue you use to taste the bitterness you're eating. It's not a secret. Behind closed doors, sure, but definitely not a secret meeting. So what is the Fifth Plenum? Well, every five years, the Chinese Communist Party holds a party congress. The most important meeting of all the party officials, where the party elects its leader for the next five years and can make changes to its constitution. The last one was in 2022, and the next one, the 21st National Congress, is coming up in October of next year. But five years is a long time to go between meetings for a complex and opaque bureaucracy like the CCP. So there are in-between meetings, and these are called plenary sessions or plenums. Usually there are seven plenums, each with its own purpose. But there have been a lot of delayed plenums this time around. Which means there might not be time to squeeze in all seven plenums before the next National Congress. So while the fifth plenum is supposed to cover economic priorities and introduce the next five-year plan, it seems that this year they're leaping ahead to strengthening the Party's ideology and governance, including its anti-corruption campaign. Because why focus on something that'd be difficult to fix but can actually help people when you can just start cracking skulls immediately. Work lazy and crazy, that's the Communist way. Chinese state-run media has been going hard about how the CCP needs discipline, accountability, and oversight. With self-governance in mind. And the Party itself said the Fifth Plenum would focus on issues concerning the sustained advancement of full and rigorous Party self-governance. Which is Communist lingo for keeping in line with the Communist overlord's orders. What all this means is, the Fifth Plenum is really about Xi Jinping. This Fifth Plenum isn't about improving the state of the nation or the lives of the people. Don't be silly. It's about helping Xi tighten party control. And helping him secure a fourth five-year term in office. 20 years of Xi Jinping. It's like The Simpsons. It just keeps on going and going against everyone's will, and it's getting worse. The biggest hint that this is really about securing Xi's position, more so than securing the future of China as a nation, happened right before the Fifth Plenum started, during the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Long March. The Long March was the time during the Chinese Civil War when Chinese communist forces under Mao Zedong were forced to retreat from Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces, the ruling government of China at the time. The communists were this close to being killed off. 19 out of every 20 soldiers died or deserted during the Long March. That one just had to hold on. Like the world's evilest 5th dentist. And yet the communists persevered and were able to live to fight another day. And sure enough, they ultimately conquered all of mainland China. Xi Jinping gave a speech at the Long March anniversary event where he promoted Xi Jinping's new Long March. Which is basically Xi's way of telling the Chinese people that yes, things are difficult now. China's economy is in shambles. Nobody has any money. And the youth can't find jobs. But the Chinese Communist Party will come back, stronger than ever. It all hinges, however, on strengthening the Party's leadership. After all, with Mao at its core, the Party increasingly found its own answers to the problems the Chinese Revolution faced. The conclusion? Today's Long March requires Xi Jinping at the Party's core. Because look at how great things have been going so far with him. Seriously, subscribe to this channel and look at 14 years worth of videos showing how great things have been going. Of course, this isn't exactly new. Xi's been consolidating power for years. Under his leadership, there have been so many purges in the Party that the plenum has gotten noticeably smaller. Back in 2022, the Central Committee had 376 members. Attendance has since shrunk to 315 members. By some estimates, there may be fewer than 300 this year. But it's not just about numbers. Xi has purged the majority of the Chinese Central Military Commission, including China's top general, the former vice chairman of the CMC, Zhang Youxia, earlier this year. Then came Zhong Shaojun, who has served as Xi's personal secretary for over 20 years and worked in the Central Military Commission general office. And don't forget Wang Xishan, the guy who led Xi's anti-corruption campaign, along with his aides. That happened just a few days ago. Yes, the anti-corruption guy got axed in an anti-corruption campaign. like ghost-type Pokémon being weak to themselves. Even people previously thought untouchable have been purged in the lead-up to the 5th Plenum. Earlier this month, the CCP announced that it was investigating Deputy Mayor of Beijing Xiaolin Mao, as well as the former mayor of Chongqing, Huang Shifan. Huang's investigation, or purge really, is huge. The Wall Street Journal called him China's ultimate political survivor. Because he has survived in politics all this time despite having served under Bo Xilai, Chongqing's former Communist Party chief, the guy who once plotted to overthrow Xi Jinping, and is now serving a life sentence since 2013. Which is brutal, but on the bright side, this means he missed the new Star Wars trilogy, so silver lining. She's doing more than just purging out potential rivals. She's also building an entire system that can sustain his goals in the long term, by demanding ideological and political education programs for CCP officials, as well as regulation after regulation designed to instill the fear of Xi in men's hearts. Hearts that could be forcibly harvested if they're not scared enough. In many ways, what Xi is doing is unprecedented. Guo Shuizhi, a professor at Guilford College, found that out of 221 anti-corruption regulations put into place since the founding of the People's Republic of China, 156 or around 71% were issued during Xi's tenure. And with more regulations come more disciplinary cases. According to the Wall Street Journal, China's disciplinary authorities filed around 83,000 cases a month throughout 2025. During the first half of 2026, that average went up to nearly 90,000 cases filed a month. This could be about more than just Xi getting rid of potential rivals. This could also be a sign that she's raising the bar for officials. Or throwing them behind bars. He wants party officials that are not only loyal but effective, who do more than just keep their heads down. A senior analyst at Eurasia Group argues that "...the message is clear. The anti-corruption campaign is not winding down. Officials are not only tested for loyalty but also for compliance and action." What happens after the 5th Plenum will set the stage for what happens in the 21st National Congress. But one thing's for certain. This doesn't look like Xi has been purged, or is dead for that matter, contrary to so many conspiracy theories that have been floating around on the internet. He still can't live up to Mao in that way, by not living. As much as people like to speculate on his health, he's 73 after all. Xi isn't quite Biden old. But can Xi succeed in terrifying officials into fixing China? Or will that just make them too scared to do anything? I will relish covering this. And finally, what are you doing? Do you know how much time has passed since this episode started? You're now even closer to the deadline to get your very own, for legal reasons I can't call it, LEGO Tank Man set. Click this button here or the link below to find out how you can get one. But remember, Halloween is the deadline. Once again, I'm Chris Chappell. See you next time.