As we enter 2025, some public but unusual political shifts are underway in the upper echelons of Chinese politics. It seems that China's top leaders are facing immense pressure and are undergoing a self-revolution. However, unlike the purges of the past decade or so, this time the blade is turned inward, purging those closest to them. A quietly unfolding campaign to "clean up the imperial court" is underway.
Ostensibly, this campaign began with the so-called "Democratic Life Conference" held by the Politburo on December 26-27, 2024, and subsequently expanded to provincial and ministerial levels under the guise of the 2024 Annual Democratic Life Conferences. The Shanghai Municipal Party Committee's Democratic Life Conference drew particular attention. In the presence of the "Democratic Life Conference Third Supervisory Group," a special delegation from the central government, Chen Jining, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and a leading candidate for the next prime minister, engaged in a period of c
