The Chinese idiom “everything under the sky submits to the one ruler” has been heavily stressed in recent years by Chinese regime media and Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he tries to build up his absolute authority with the help of several of his senior advisors, known as “The Gang of Fudan.”
The gang is headed by Wang Huning, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee. Wang is a former professor and dean of the law school at Fudan University. Known in China as “the state advisor for three dynasties,” Wang has been the advisor for three generations of CCP heads including Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, and Xi.
As the first secretary of the central secretariat of the CCP, Wang is in charge of ideology and propaganda and has played an important role in shaping Xi’s strategies and policies.
From there he started his political career as the Head of the Political Team of the CCP’s Central Policy Research Office in 1995 and climbed up the ranks fairly smoothly.
Zhang Weiwei
Another important member of the “Gang of Fudan” is Zhang Weiwei, director of the China Institute of Fudan University.On May 31, Xi presided over the Politburo of the CCP for a collective study. In China, the regime requires officials to gather for meetings to study Mao’s thoughts and now Xi’s thoughts. The study was on “Strengthening China’s International Communication Capacity” and Zhang was invited to give a lecture to the Politburo Standing Committee, for which he was called a “new teacher of the nation.”
Although the details of Zhang’s lecture have not been disclosed, the regime’s most prominent mouthpiece, Xinhua, published a report the following day and said that Xi stressed the importance of “telling the China story well,” and “strengthening China’s international communication capabilities,” while Zhang “gave a lecture on these issues and made work suggestions. The comrades of the Central Politburo listened carefully to his lecture and discussed it.”
Zhang holds quite a few glittering titles, such as a member of the Council of National High-End Think Tanks, Senior Researcher at Shanghai Chunqiu Institute of Development Strategy, etc.
Zheng Ruolin
Another person who coined the “wolf-warrior diplomacy” theory for the CCP is Zheng Ruolin, a researcher at Fudan University’s China Institute and a contributor to the party media Wen Wei Po.“A lie repeated a thousand times will really become the ‘truth,'” he openly stated.
Shen Yi
Another member of the “Gang of Fudan” is Shen Yi, an associate professor in the Department of International Politics at Fudan University. He is very popular among the “little pinks” in China because of his outlandish comments on nationalist positions.“Little pink” refers to a group of blindly patriotic young Chinese nationals who have been brainwashed by the CCP and cannot differentiate China from the CCP.
Shen immediately took to social media to applaud the picture, saying it was a normal response to India’s “sultry cheapskate ways.”
Shi Shan, a U.S.-based commentator on China issues, told The Epoch Times that Shanghai, where Fudan University is located, is the home of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin and his son Jiang Mianheng, who have had close ties with Fudan University.
According to Shi, Wang was directly promoted by Jiang Zemin. However, after many members of Jiang’s faction were purged by Xi, the internal power struggle between Jiang and Xi have become more intense. Wang, the core figure of the “Gang of Fudan” placed at Xi’s side by Jiang, is now in a precarious situation.
Guggy Dong, a Chinese scholar who once also studied at the School of Management of Fudan University, told The Epoch Times that as “the state advisor for three dynasties,” Wang actually played different roles in all three, “He was Jiang Zemin’s helper, he monitored Hu Jintao, and now, he is destroying Xi Jinping.”