Former editor-in-chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times, Hu Xijin, recently wrote an article stating that he had run to the hospital six times in two weeks and almost lost control of his emotions. Hu Xijin, who is known for being a staunch supporter of the party, was rarely silenced for his remarks earlier and suffered heavy losses in the stock market after being unblocked.
On November 23, Hu Xijin wrote on Weibo, “Old Hu is not in a good mood today, feeling as if he is weightless emotionally. The reason is that in the past two weeks, I have been to the hospital six times. Today, I was awakened early by the alarm clock and went again. When I walked out of the hospital, I felt at my limit, thinking about having to run again next week, I felt like I was about to break down.”
He mentioned that he had been running to the hospital for days, and with the long queues at hospitals, each visit was exhausting. The hospital even told him that he had to continue running.
Hu Xijin mentioned that a few days ago, he left the X-rays from the hospital in the taxi, and when he turned back, the taxi had already driven away. In order to retrieve his x-rays, he desperately chased after the taxi and fortunately caught up with it at a turn.
He said, “When I came out of the hospital today, I felt too exhausted to walk. Before taking the subway, I found a place to sit down, catch my breath, and calm my emotions.”
Hu Xijin concluded with self-consolation, “Let out a few complaints, pitifully lament to oneself, and that should be enough. My situation is not too bad. Look at the other seriously ill patients and their families in the hospital, they are going through much more hardship than me. If I indulge in self-pity easily, wouldn’t I be acting like a spoiled child!”
China’s economy has been continuously declining since last year, and the domestic political situation is delicate. The top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party has demanded the promotion of the “theory of economic enlightenment” and has intensified the suppression of speech. Even Hu Xijin, who has served as a mouthpiece for the CCP for many years, unexpectedly faced censorship for his remarks.
Hu Xijin was rumored to have been “banned from speaking” since July 27 last year. In September, former dean of the School of Business at China University of Political Science and Law, Liu Jipeng, posted a video on Weibo confirming that Hu Xijin was banned from speaking for three months (until October 27), and through Liu’s post, Hu Xijin expressed, “I indeed need to enhance my learning to fully and accurately understand the meaning of the Party Central Committee’s documents…”
Hu Xijin’s recent trouble was reported to be related to his interpretation of an article from the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee in 2013, which specified in the reform “decision” the “dominant role of public ownership.” However, the Communiqué of the Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee in July deleted the relevant clause, stating that “non-public sector of the economy and the public sector of the economy have truly achieved equal status”, and he believed that “this change is undoubtedly historic.” Radio Free Asia subsequently cited scholars’ analysis, suggesting that Hu Xijin’s remarks crossed the CCP’s red line.
An article by Taiwan’s Up Media published a commentary by Du Zheng, indicating that even Hu Xijin had “violated (party) rules,” possibly explaining that due to his many years of qualification as a mouthpiece, the party considered that he had become self-forgetful. On the other hand, it may also be because the party-state is now more authoritarian yet fragile, unable to tolerate even a few human words from old Hu.
The article argued that Hu Xijin’s questioning of the disappearance of “the dominant role of public ownership” is related to the power struggle within the CCP because Xi Jinping leads the economy, always calling for reform and opening up but acting to create more closed doors, placing political security above economic development, thus plunging the Chinese economy into a predicament, making Hu’s topic extremely sensitive.
Hu Xijin made a high-profile entry into the stock market last year. On June 26 this year, he posted that he had lost 74,500 yuan (RMB) from stock trading in a year, accounting for 10.65% of his total share capital. However, some netizens believed that Hu Xijin’s losses were more than just 10%.
On November 22 this year, the three major A-share indices fell together, with over 4,900 individual stocks declining. Hu Xijin revealed that he lost 12,000 yuan that day. This is the latest stock trading diary he disclosed on his personal social platform after being unblocked, but the related information was quickly deleted.