Shanxi Province Governor Jin Xiangjun Falls from Grace: Political Taboo Violation?

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China announced on the evening of April 12 that the Governor of Shanxi Province, Jin Xiangjun, is under investigation “for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.” Jin Xiangjun is the 15th senior official under central management (appointed by the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China) to be investigated this year, and also the first provincial governor to be investigated since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It was reported that one of the reasons for Jin Xiangjun’s downfall may be a serious political taboo.

According to Caixin’s report, the investigation into Jin Xiangjun is also a warning from the recent round of inspections by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to corrupt officials. Jin Xiangjun was still presiding over a meeting on April 10, but was taken away on the 11th.

Jin Xiangjun is the first provincial governor investigated since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The last senior local official to be investigated while in office was in Tianjin in September 2016—Huang Xingguo, who was then acting secretary of the Communist Party of Tianjin and the mayor of Tianjin.

Jin Xiangjun started his career in the Policy Research Office of the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Commission, worked in Hainan in 1992, and then transferred to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Tianjin. His peak of power and real authority was mainly in Tianjin.

Jin Xiangjun’s final position in Tianjin was Deputy Secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, with Li Hongzhong serving as the Secretary of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee at that time. Li Hongzhong left Tianjin for Beijing in December 2022, and Jin Xiangjun was transferred from Tianjin to Shanxi as the governor in the same month.

Reports suggest that there are voices in official circles saying that Jin Xiangjun may have not only committed corruption but also possibly violated serious political taboos, namely “violating political discipline and rules.”

On April 12, 2025, after the Chinese Communist Party officially announced the investigation into Jin Xiangjun, the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately held an enlarged meeting of the Provincial Standing Committee to report that Jin Xiangjun is currently under investigation.