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  • Huangshan: Where heritage, natural charm and wellness converge

    Huangshan: Where heritage, natural charm and wellness converge

    Tucked away in the southern tip of East China’s Anhui Province, the city of Huangshan stands as a breathtaking fusion of millennia-old cultural heritage, unparalleled natural beauty, and time-honored holistic wellness traditions. Far more than just the home of the iconic Yellow Mountain peaks that draw global visitors each year, this region weaves together human history, artisanal craft, fertile land, and wellness practices into a one-of-a-kind travel experience that highlights the deep harmony between people and the natural world.

    One of the most immersive windows into Huangshan’s living history is Tunxi Old Street, a centuries-old commercial hub that retains all the bustle and charm of its golden age. As visitors step onto the uneven cobblestones that have been worn smooth by generations of footsteps, they are surrounded by traditional wooden archways and century-old storefronts that once hosted silk and tea merchants traveling along ancient trade routes. The air here is thick with the inviting scents of local Anhui cuisine: savory braised chicken simmered for hours, the bold, distinctive aroma of stinky mandarin fish, a beloved local specialty, and the sweet, floral fragrance of freshly baked osmanthus pastries.

    Beyond its food offerings, Tunxi Old Street is a living repository of Huangshan’s world-famous traditional craftsmanship. Most notable among these are the ink stones carved from unique stone deposits in nearby Shexian County. For centuries, these ink stones have been prized not just as essential tools for Chinese calligraphy and ink painting, but also as intricate collectible works of art. Learning the painstaking, detail-oriented process of crafting these ink stones offers a deep look into the region’s centuries-long commitment to preserving traditional artistry.

    Neighboring storefronts along the old street also showcase exquisitely crafted Huangshan lacquerware, adorned with intricate hand-carved patterns and glossy, durable finishes that reflect hundreds of years of refined craftsmanship. These handcrafted pieces are far more than generic travel souvenirs; they carry the intangible cultural spirit that has been passed down through generations of local artisans.

    Huangshan’s natural bounty extends far beyond its dramatic mountain landscapes. Mist-shrouded terraced plantations spread across the region’s hillsides, producing some of the most revered teas in the world. Iconic varieties including Huangshan Maofeng green tea and Qimen black tea, also known as Keemun, draw tea connoisseurs from across the globe, drawn by their delicate flavors and the generations of cultivation knowledge that go into every harvest. For international visitors like British journalist Joe Burns, who tried traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis at Huangshan’s Xin’an Wellness Center during an April 22 visit, the region offers more than scenic views — it offers a chance to experience holistic wellness traditions rooted in thousands of years of Chinese medicine.

    For travelers seeking an experience that blends history, natural beauty, culture, and relaxation, Huangshan emerges as a standout destination that captures the very best of China’s diverse cultural and natural heritage.

  • UAE ‘aggressively’ lobbying US to designate Yemen’s Islah as a terror group, sources say

    UAE ‘aggressively’ lobbying US to designate Yemen’s Islah as a terror group, sources say

    A diplomatic rift is brewing in the Middle East after multiple anonymous regional, U.S. and Yemeni sources confirmed to Middle East Eye that the United Arab Emirates has waged an aggressive, four-month lobbying campaign to push the former Trump administration to designate Yemen’s Islah Party as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) – a move that would directly undercut Saudi Arabia, the group’s main international backer.

    The push from Abu Dhabi came after the Trump administration designated three national branches of the Muslim Brotherhood – Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese – as terrorist organizations earlier this year. While the UAE issued a muted public statement praising the decision as a positive step for global counter-terrorism efforts, senior Emirati officials privately expressed deep frustration that the action failed to meet their longstanding demand: a blanket terror designation for the entire Muslim Brotherhood movement, a goal Abu Dhabi has pursued for more than a decade across Washington and European capitals.

    A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic deliberations, noted that Emirati leaders genuinely believed the Trump administration would move forward with the proscription at some point. While it remains unclear whether Abu Dhabi secured a formal timeline from U.S. counterparts, a terror designation would carry severe consequences: a SDGT label would force U.S. financial institutions to freeze all assets linked to the party and bar all its members from entering the United States. If the more severe Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation was adopted, any individual anywhere in the world suspected of providing material support or resources to Islah could face prosecution under U.S. anti-terrorism law.

    The lobbying push sets the stage for a major escalation between Gulf rivals Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who have seen their once-aligned alliance fracture sharply over divergent strategic interests across the Middle East in recent years. Founded more than 30 years ago as the Yemeni Congregation for Reform, Islah is an independent Yemeni political party that blends Islamist, tribal and conservative ideological currents. While often characterized as ideologically sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood, the party has repeatedly denied any formal affiliation with the movement. Two members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council – Marib Governor Sultan Ali al-Arada and Abdullah al-Alimi Bawazeer – currently hold seats as Islah representatives.

    A senior informed Saudi source confirmed the kingdom is well aware that the UAE’s broader campaign to ban all Muslim Brotherhood branches targets Islah specifically. “They see Islah as the most dangerous branch of the Brotherhood because of its political weight and its role in Yemen,” the source told Middle East Eye. The U.S. official added that while the administration had not formally assessed Riyadh’s reaction, pushing through the designation would almost certainly trigger fierce pushback from the kingdom.

    Longtime coalition partners in the 2015 Yemen intervention, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have grown increasingly at odds over their strategic priorities in the country. Tensions boiled over in late 2022 when Riyadh forced the dissolution of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group that Abu Dhabi has supported to politically and militarily marginalize Islah. Since that showdown, Saudi Arabia has moved to push Emirati forces and their local proxies out of key Yemeni territory. The rift extends beyond Yemen: the two Gulf powers also back opposing sides in Sudan’s ongoing civil conflict, with Riyadh supporting the Sudanese Armed Forces alongside Egypt and Turkey, while Abu Dhabi backs the Rapid Support Forces.

    Following a November executive order from the Trump administration that launched the process of designating specific Muslim Brotherhood chapters, the State Department began reaching out to regional stakeholders to gather input on a potential Islah blacklisting. Administration officials sent a series of questions about the party to both Saudi officials and Islah representatives as part of internal deliberations. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the outreach, telling Middle East Eye that the agency does not disclose details of internal designation discussions.

    Islah has not issued an official public response to the UAE’s lobbying offensive, but a senior party member told Middle East Eye the move did not come as a surprise. “We expected certain people to come after us after the Trump administration first unveiled the directive in November,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity amid a recent rise in targeted assassinations of Yemeni political figures. The party is currently pushing back against the terror allegations and is communicating with the State Department through a third-party intermediary. “Islah is a Yemeni party, and it isn’t a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It doesn’t have any links to them,” the source said. “We are happy with what the Muslim Brotherhood is doing in supporting Palestine, but that doesn’t mean Islah is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

    Abdullah al-Arian, an associate professor of history at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, explained the divergent approaches of Saudi Arabia and the UAE to the Muslim Brotherhood. While both nations have formally designated the movement as a terrorist organization, al-Arian noted that the UAE maintains an uncompromising zero-tolerance policy for any group linked to the Brotherhood, “irrespective of what short-term political advantages it might offer.” “There is a far deeper, ideologically driven agenda on the part of the UAE that we don’t see necessarily manifesting from the Saudis,” al-Arian said. “Not because the Saudis are more amenable to these groups or their actual political projects or programmes, but more because they see in them the possibilities for tactical political advantages.”

    Middle East Eye reached out to the UAE embassy in Washington and the Saudi foreign ministry for comment on the lobbying campaign, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

  • China clones 10 healthy yaks in livestock breeding breakthrough

    China clones 10 healthy yaks in livestock breeding breakthrough

    In a major milestone for agricultural science and high-altitude livestock improvement, Chinese researchers have successfully produced 10 fully healthy cloned yaks, a first-of-its-kind breakthrough that promises to reshape traditional yak breeding practices across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The successful births of all 10 cloned calves took place between March 25 and April 2026 at a specialized breeding base located in Damshung county, Lhasa, in the Xizang Autonomous Region. According to official announcements from the county, every cloned yak was carried to full term and delivered through natural birth, with no reported health complications for the new calves.

    The cloning project was led by a research team from Zhejiang University, headed by lead researcher Fang Shengguo. The work relies on an indigenous, self-developed somatic cell cloning technology that creates exact 1:1 genetic replications of high-performing parent yaks. Prior to this breakthrough, conventional selective breeding for desired yak traits took approximately 20 years to produce a stable, improved breed. This new cloning technology cuts that waiting period dramatically, reducing the breeding cycle to less than five years.

    Beyond accelerating the development of improved yak breeds, the breakthrough also addresses a longstanding challenge facing local yak herds: gradual genetic decline that has reduced productivity and hardiness in regional populations over generations. By replicating the genetics of the strongest, most productive native yaks, the technology provides an effective tool to reverse this decline and preserve valuable native yak genetic resources.

    Yaks are a foundational livestock species for communities across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, providing meat, milk, fuel, and transportation for local herder populations, and supporting the livelihoods of millions of people living in high-altitude regions. This scientific advance is expected to deliver widespread economic and livelihood benefits to Xizang and other high-altitude pastoral areas, boosting the sustainability of local livestock industries while supporting conservation of the unique plateau ecosystem.

  • Taiyuan’s 400-year-old peonies draw crowds to annual culture month

    Taiyuan’s 400-year-old peonies draw crowds to annual culture month

    As spring unfolds across northern China, 400-year-old living treasures have turned a historic Taiyuan cultural site into a major tourist draw for the kickoff of the city’s beloved annual peony celebration. The 43rd Taiyuan Shuangta Peony Culture Month officially opened recently at Yongzuo Temple, located within the grounds of Taiyuan’s Shuangta Museum in Shanxi province, and seven ancient peony trees that have stood for more than four centuries have emerged as the event’s unrivaled centerpiece. These centuries-old botanical specimens, which have survived generations of political, environmental and social change, now draw thousands of flower enthusiasts, culture lovers and curious tourists from across the country each spring when they burst into full, vibrant bloom. For many returning visitors, the annual pilgrimage to see these ancient peonies has become a cherished intergenerational tradition. Eighty-two-year-old Hao Guixiang is one such visitor who has maintained a decades-long connection to the trees. She recalled visiting the site to admire the peonies starting from her childhood, and in her later years, she regularly returns to the temple grounds to sketch the plants, drawing natural inspiration from their lush blooms for her traditional Chinese fine brushwork paintings. First-time visitors are equally enchanted by the unique experience of seeing flowers planted centuries before the modern city took shape around them. Thirty-six-year-old Deng Li, who made her first trip to the celebration this year, chose to wear a traditional Tang Dynasty-style Hanfu garment to match the elegant, stately grandeur that peonies have long symbolized in Chinese culture, turning her visit into an immersive celebration of natural beauty and cultural heritage. The annual culture month, now in its fifth decade of operation, has grown from a small local gathering of horticulture fans into a major regional cultural event that highlights Taiyuan’s long history and blend of natural and cultural heritage, supporting local cultural tourism and creating a space for people to connect with both centuries-old natural treasures and living Chinese cultural traditions.

  • Draft law targets faster, easier social assistance access

    Draft law targets faster, easier social assistance access

    China’s top legislative body is moving forward with a landmark piece of social policy legislation that seeks to transform how vulnerable residents access life-changing support. The draft Social Assistance Law was tabled this Monday for its third reading at the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s highest legislative organ. Under China’s standard legislative process, most bills receive final approval following three readings by the NPC Standing Committee, putting this legislation one step away from becoming official law.

    Social assistance forms a foundational pillar of China’s social safety net, designed to address sudden hardships, chronic poverty, and urgent basic needs for low-income households, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. In its latest iteration, the draft legislation retains existing requirements to maintain full transparency and procedural fairness in the allocation of assistance. It also adds a new, explicit mandate that regulatory authorities must streamline and adapt application and approval workflows to local conditions, cutting unnecessary red tape to make it simpler for eligible people to submit applications and receive their benefits in a timelier manner.

    Alongside the social assistance bill, the legislative session is also reviewing several other key pieces of legislation aligned with China’s ongoing policy and economic priorities. These include a revised draft of the Law on State-owned Assets of Enterprises, an amendment to the Agriculture Law, and a proposed new law on national healthcare security. This slate of legislative reviews underscores the government’s ongoing push to update its legal framework to better serve public needs and support long-term social and economic development.

  • UAE ranks first globally in GEM report for fifth year

    UAE ranks first globally in GEM report for fifth year

    For the fifth year running, the United Arab Emirates has retained its position as the world’s leading nation for entrepreneurship, according to the newly released 2025/2026 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report. Outperforming dozens of advanced economies across the globe, the country has once again solidified its reputation as the world’s most favorable environment for launching and scaling new business ventures.

    Across eight core performance metrics for high-income economies, the UAE claimed the number one spot. These metrics span physical infrastructure development, targeted and supportive government policy frameworks, tax and administrative procedural policies, national government-led entrepreneurship programs, research and development knowledge transfer, market dynamic-fueled ease of new entry, regulatory burden reduction for new market entrants, and formal entrepreneurial education.

    On two additional key indicators – entrepreneurial financing and access to startup capital – the UAE took second place globally, showcasing the strength and adaptive capacity of its national financial system. This strong performance confirms that the UAE’s economic landscape is fully prepared to empower early-stage startups and expand their opportunities for sustainable growth and regional or global expansion.

    Notably, the UAE is one of only four countries worldwide that have met or exceeded the “sufficiency” benchmark across every foundational framework condition measured by the GEM entrepreneurship index. This achievement underscores its status as a global leader in entrepreneurial ecosystems, underpinned by world-class infrastructure, efficient and proactive government policies, and robust digital readiness.

    Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism, emphasized the country’s pride in this milestone, noting that the consecutive top ranking reflects the nation’s longstanding commitment to strengthening its entrepreneurial ecosystem and locking in its status as the world’s most entrepreneur-friendly economy and top global destination for business establishment.

    He attributed the sustained success directly to the UAE leadership’s forward-thinking vision, which centers entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as core pillars of building a competitive, innovation-driven knowledge economy. Al Marri also highlighted the UAE economy’s proven high resilience and its proven ability to adapt rapidly to shifting regional and global economic conditions.

    The minister added that the GEM results reflect the strength and cohesive integration of pro-competitive policies and regulatory reforms rolled out by the UAE to nurture a supportive entrepreneurial landscape. Key initiatives driving this success include the national “UAE: Global Entrepreneurship Capital” campaign, which has successfully positioned the country as the premier destination for global talent, innovators, and founders.

    These outcomes also align directly with the goals of the UAE’s “We the UAE 2031” national vision, which aims to establish the country as a global hub for the new economy by supporting high-growth potential sectors including advanced technology, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, space exploration, and financial technology.

    In the 2025 National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI), which measures a country’s overall entrepreneurial climate based on independent expert assessments, the UAE scored a robust 7.0 out of 10. This high score reflects the deep robustness of the country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and the high level of confidence among local business owners and international investors operating in the UAE.

    The GEM report also highlighted that the UAE is among just six countries where entrepreneurs uniformly identify artificial intelligence as a critical driver of growth over the next three years, demonstrating the nation’s advanced preparedness for the transition to a digital, knowledge-based economy.

    In the “international access” metric, the UAE ranked among the top five countries worldwide for startups’ ability to enter and scale in external global markets. The report attributed this success to the UAE’s world-class physical infrastructure and integrated logistics network, which it described as exceptional in connecting local entrepreneurs with global consumer markets.

    Data from the report confirms the UAE has built a dynamic, fast-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem: more than one in five UAE adults (over 20 percent of the adult population) are currently engaged in launching new business ventures. This high participation rate reflects the strength of the incentives and enabling frameworks the country has put in place to support early-stage founders.

    The UAE’s Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate hit a strong 19.2 percent, signaling a healthy, consistent pipeline of new ventures. The GEM report notes that this steady flow of new entrepreneurial projects stems from a supportive ecosystem where launching a business is widely viewed as an attractive career choice, facilitated by streamlined registration processes and backed by robust government and financial support.

    The UAE continues to draw global entrepreneurial talent, with 19.6 percent of citizen adults and 22.4 percent of resident adults engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. This gap highlights the country’s success in attracting skilled, ambitious founders from across the globe and encouraging entrepreneurial participation across all segments of society.

    The report also singled out the UAE’s success in advancing female entrepreneurship, noting that the country’s integrated ecosystem guarantees women founders equal access to critical resources and growth opportunities.

    More than half of UAE-based entrepreneurs identify family cultural traditions as a key motivator for launching and growing their businesses, reflecting the deep embeddedness of entrepreneurial culture across UAE society.

    In school-based entrepreneurial education, the UAE also made notable gains, ranking among the top five countries globally. The country’s education system prioritizes building core entrepreneurial competencies in students, including creative thinking, complex problem-solving, risk assessment, and opportunity identification, laying the groundwork for a new generation of future founders.

    Finally, the report emphasized that UAE entrepreneurship is supported by an advanced, flexible financing landscape that offers founders a wide range of pathways to secure capital for launching and scaling their businesses. This strength is visible in the diversity of funding sources available, from government-backed grant and seed initiatives to independent investment funds and global venture capital firms. This comprehensive support boosts founder confidence and enables innovators to turn early-stage ideas into scalable, globally competitive businesses, advancing the country’s vision of building a knowledge- and innovation-led national economy.

    As one of the world’s most authoritative independent research projects tracking global entrepreneurial activity, GEM has conducted more than two million interviews with stakeholders since its launch. The 2025/2026 edition of the report covers 53 global economies, representing approximately 43 percent of the world’s population and 57 percent of total global GDP, with analysis drawn from extensive input from hundreds of entrepreneurship experts.

  • Torrential rain floods Qinzhou, Guangxi, as city raises flood alert

    Torrential rain floods Qinzhou, Guangxi, as city raises flood alert

    On Monday, an intense weather system delivered record-breaking torrential downpours to Qinzhou, a coastal city in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, triggering widespread flash flooding that forced local authorities to activate a Level III flood control emergency response.

    Local meteorological authorities confirmed that the heaviest precipitation was concentrated between midnight and 8 a.m. that day, drenching the city’s central urban districts and outlying surrounding townships. The most severe rainfall was recorded in Jiulong town, located in Qinzhou’s Qinnan district, which measured a total accumulated rainfall of 362.2 millimeters over the eight-hour window. At the storm’s peak around 4 a.m. Monday, the area also registered an extreme hourly rainfall rate of 143.3 millimeters, far exceeding the threshold for severe flash flood warnings.

    The downpour quickly overwhelmed local drainage systems, leading to rapid waterlogging in multiple downtown neighborhoods and surrounding suburban areas, as documented by on-site photojournalists covering the disaster response. As of the latest update, local emergency management teams have been deployed to conduct evacuation operations, clear blocked drainage lines, and monitor water levels across at-risk river basins to mitigate further risks to residents and their property.

  • China builds integrated space-air-ground-sea environmental monitoring network with 150 satellites: ministry

    China builds integrated space-air-ground-sea environmental monitoring network with 150 satellites: ministry

    China has established a groundbreaking, fully integrated space-air-ground-sea ecological and environmental monitoring network that draws on data from approximately 150 satellites, the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment has announced. The development was revealed during a press conference held on Monday by Zhang Dawei, director of the ministry’s ecological and environmental monitoring department, who centered remarks on a new high-precision greenhouse gas detection satellite launched into orbit on April 17.

    This newly launched satellite carries five cutting-edge scientific instruments, including a lidar system and a hyperspectral greenhouse gas monitor. With this technology on board, Zhang explained, China has become the first country in the world to achieve integrated active and passive greenhouse gas detection from space. The satellite is capable of carrying out large-scale, high-accuracy monitoring of major greenhouse gases and key gaseous pollutants across the entire globe, marking a major milestone in the evolution of China’s modern ecological and environmental monitoring infrastructure, Zhang emphasized.

    Currently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment serves as the lead operational user for eight dedicated environmental and atmospheric satellites, and maintains coordination agreements to access data from more than 140 additional commercial and civilian satellites across the country. Zhang noted that together, this fleet of satellites is equipped with multispectral sensors featuring a broad range of wavebands and short orbital revisit cycles, enabling the ministry to complete a full-coverage ecological “health check” every two months across 3.3 million square kilometers of national nature reserves and protected areas falling within China’s ecological conservation red lines.

    Beyond inland protected areas, the integrated monitoring system also conducts quarterly systematic scans of 21,000 kilometers of China’s mainland coastline and 100,000 square kilometers of its adjacent coastal waters. These scans allow authorities to rapidly identify human-caused ecological damage and illegal encroachment on protected coastal ecosystems.

    In addition to broad-area regional scanning, the satellite fleet also carries hyperspectral sensors designed for targeted, high-precision detection. These sensors can accurately resolve atmospheric chemical components and provide quantitative measurements of trace harmful gases including ozone, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde, delivering critical data that supports evidence-based air pollution control efforts.

    On a global scale, the network’s sensors can pinpoint the exact location of methane leaks from oil and gas extraction sites, coal mines and municipal landfills, tracing pollutant emissions directly to individual responsible facilities. Completing the system’s robust capabilities, many satellites in the fleet are equipped with radar instruments that enable all-weather, 24/7 monitoring operations that do not depend on natural light and are unaffected by cloudy or severe weather conditions.

  • Beijing metro handles 3.58 billion trips in 2025

    Beijing metro handles 3.58 billion trips in 2025

    Beijing’s rapid urban rail transit network closed out 2025 with robust performance, recording a total of 3.58 billion passenger trips across the year as city authorities ramp up investments to enhance service quality and operational efficiency, according to findings from an official third-party assessment.

    Data published on the Beijing Infrastructure Investment website reveals that by the end of 2025, the city’s metro operating mileage expanded to 909 kilometers, connecting more residential, commercial, and industrial hubs across the Chinese capital. On average, the system handled 9.8 million passenger trips per day in 2025, with weekday ridership reaching an average of 11.15 million trips, reflecting the network’s central role in supporting the city’s daily mobility.

    The comprehensive evaluation was commissioned by the Beijing Commission of Transport, and covered 27 operational lines across the network. Newly opened sections that had been in service for less than 12 months — including the southern extension of Line 6, the central section of Line 17, and the full Line 18 — were excluded from the assessment to ensure data consistency. Evaluators focused on three core domains: passenger satisfaction, overall service capacity, and key operational performance indicators.

    Survey results show that passengers gave overwhelmingly positive feedback on the metro system across multiple key dimensions, including accessibility to stations, in-station environment, public order on platforms and trains, and routine facility maintenance. The system also maintained high service standards across ticketing processes, waiting times, and basic passenger support functions. Operational performance was equally strong, with 10 critical metrics — including on-time train service and overall facility reliability — earning perfect scores in the assessment.

    Per the final evaluation report, the Beijing metro management will continue to prioritize user-centered service upgrades, reinforce strict operational safety protocols, and adjust capacity allocation to match real-time passenger demand, all with the goal of delivering safer, more efficient travel experiences for commuters and visitors alike.

    The metro’s strong performance is part of a broader steady expansion of Beijing’s public transport ecosystem. Separate data from the Beijing Bureau of Statistics shows that by the end of 2025, the city’s public bus and trolleybus network included 1,252 routes, covering a total operating length of 28,928.8 kilometers. The bus network carried 1.6 billion passenger trips across 2025, working in tandem with the metro system to meet the mobility needs of Beijing’s large population.

  • Former National Railway Administration head indicted with bribery

    Former National Railway Administration head indicted with bribery

    In an official announcement made Monday, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) confirmed that Fei Dongbin, the former director of the National Railway Administration, has been formally indicted on suspicion of bribery following a year-long investigation by national supervisory authorities.

    The case follows a standard legal process for major corruption probes in China: after the National Commission of Supervision completed its fact-finding and investigation, the matter was transferred to procuratorial organs for prosecution review. The SPP first approved a formal arrest warrant for Fei, then designated the Changchun People’s Procuratorate based in northeast China’s Jilin Province to handle the prosecution of the case. The prosecuting office recently submitted its formal indictment to the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court, opening the next phase of judicial proceedings.

    Per official case documents, Fei is accused of abusing a series of senior positions he held over decades of work in both the national railway system and local government to extract illegal gains. His career included senior leadership roles as executive deputy director of the former Beijing Railway Bureau and former Jinan Railway Bureau, director of the former Hohhot Railway Bureau, mayor of Ulaanqab in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, vice-governor of central China’s Henan Province, and finally head of the National Railway Administration starting in September 2022. Prosecutors allege that Fei used his official influence to coordinate with other state functionaries to secure improper business and personal benefits for specific organizations and individuals, and in exchange, illegally accepted an exceptionally large sum of money and high-value assets.

    Throughout the prosecution review process, legal procedural requirements were strictly followed: prosecuting officials informed Fei of all his litigation rights as a defendant, conducted formal interrogations, and accepted and reviewed arguments presented by Fei’s defense legal team. Prosecutors have formally stated that Fei must bear criminal liability for the suspected bribery offense.

    A 55-year-old native of Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, Fei began his professional career in 1991, joining the Communist Party of China five years later in 1996. His entire career was rooted in public service, starting with an entry-level role at the former Shenyang Railway Bureau in his home province, where he rose through the ranks to hold senior roles including deputy director and chief engineer. Following 2017, Fei transitioned into senior local government roles, first serving as deputy Party chief and mayor of Ulaanqab, then vice-governor of Henan Province, before his appointment to lead the National Railway Administration in 2022.

    Fei’s tenure at the top of the national railway regulator ended abruptly when he was placed under official investigation for corruption in 2025. By December that same year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from all public office, ahead of the formal indictment announced this week. The case is part of China’s ongoing national anti-corruption campaign that targets misconduct by senior officials across all critical public sectors, including transportation infrastructure.