On Oct 22nd 2022 during the closing ceremonies of the 20th National Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Hu Jintao 胡锦涛 was coercively escorted out by two stewards prior to the vote on the report of the 19th Central Committe and ammendment to the party constitution giving Xi Jinping 习近平 an unprecedented third term as Party Secretary. Party members cast furtive glances, whispered amongst themselves or stared straight ahead while he was ushered out.

The official reason for his sudden removal was due to illness, however, with a large contingent of foreign press allowed in for a short window before the start of the final public meeting, it has been speculated that Hu Jintao most likely was removed for his reaction to the 20th Congress Party Politburo member list which Li Zhanshu 栗战书 attempted to cover with a red ballot folder before stewards were summoned by Xi and Hu escorted out. The 20th Standing Committee has the retirements of his close allies and proteges: Li Zhanshu (seated to his right), Premier Li Keqiang 李克强, seated to Xi Jinping's right and whom Hu patted on the shoulder on the way out, Vice Premier Hang Zhen 韩正, Wang Yang 汪洋, and the demotion of Hu Chunhua 胡春华, a promising future leader. Xi, critical of a dilution of power during Hu's tenure, has effectivley removed the Communist Youth League faction from the Politburo.

The usually highly choregraphed event could be viewed as a public purging of Hu Jintao although it is more likely that he was removed to potentially avoid further public embarrassement. Hu Haifeng, Hu's son and a rising party official who was in attendance, has subsequently be seen publicly and Hu Jintao was seen publicly with Xi in Dec 2022, sanctioning the offical explanation for Hu's removal due to illness.

Whatever the truth, it is certain that Xi Jinping has solidified his absolute rule and unified vision for China.

The image is composed from approximately three hundred stills and photos from foreign and Chinese press. Hu Jintao's removal was not made public by Chinese state media nor reference to it found on the platforms Baidu, Bilibili, WeChat or Weibo.

1 大小通吃 dàxiǎo tōng chī - idiom literally to eat through the big and small