Rumors of Hu Jintao's Death Spark Search Surge! From 'Forced Departure' at 20th Party Congress to 'Food Poisoning' Speculation, Qin Feng Denies Account Was Hacked

Unverified rumors circulated online claiming that former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and former Chinese President Hu Jintao died from food poisoning, though the sources are highly questionable. A widely shared 'screenshot' appeared to show a Weibo post by prominent Chinese media figure Qin Feng, suggesting that Hu Jintao, along with his son Hu Haifeng, passed away in the early hours of Friday (July 31). Qin Feng later denied authoring the post under a follow-up comment. The rumor emerged as senior Chinese political figures traditionally gather for their summer retreat in Beidaihe. To date, no official Chinese media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV), have reported any such news or issued an obituary. BBC Chinese cannot verify Hu Jintao's health status and attempts below to outline the sequence of events.

What are the rumors about Hu Jintao's well-being?

In the early hours of Friday in Beijing, a 'Weibo post' screenshot began circulating on overseas social media platforms. The post appeared to be published by Qin Feng, a well-known Chinese media personality with 14.62 million followers, at 04:11 (20:11 GMT Thursday). The post stated: "Former leader, including wife LYQ and HHF, suffered food poisoning during dinner. Despite full rescue efforts, they passed away at 4 a.m...."

The post did not explicitly name Hu Jintao, but the initials 'LYQ' are suspected to refer to his wife Liu Yongqing, and 'HHF' to his son Hu Haifeng, Vice Minister of Civil Affairs.

According to claims attributed to Qin Feng (Phoenix TV), former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao, his wife Liu Yongqing, and their son Hu Haifeng all died from food poisoning. Rescue efforts reportedly failed, and the three died in hospital. Qin… pic.twitter.com/46tcApIUzy — The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动 （@TGTM_Official）July 30, 2026

However, official outlets like Xinhua and CCTV have not reported the incident. While the profile picture matches Qin Feng's verified Weibo account, the post's format does not align with current layouts of Weibo's web, iOS, or Android versions. The date is listed only as '7-31' without a year, and the 'blogger' label next to her name appears inconsistent. BBC Chinese checked Qin Feng's Weibo account and found no such post. Searches on 'Free Weibo,' a site archiving censored content, also revealed no deleted posts matching this.

Despite this, the unverified report caused a stir among global Chinese-speaking netizens. Google Trends data shows searches for 'Hu Jintao' in both simplified and traditional Chinese began spiking from 06:24 Beijing time on Friday.

Qin Feng's Weibo homepage also displayed a 'Popular Social Affairs Blogger, Data Surging' tag. BBC Chinese cannot confirm if this is directly linked to the surge in searches for Hu Jintao, but 'Hu Jintao' did not appear on Weibo's trending topics list.

By afternoon, several Taiwanese media outlets reported the rumor but clarified it was unverified. Later, Mirror News and NOW News reported Qin Feng's denial, though sources were not specified.

Mirror News quoted Qin Feng as saying: "Of course it's false." She emphasized that due to her significant influence on social media, hoaxers deliberately impersonated her account to amplify misinformation. She stressed the content was not posted by her.

On Friday, Qin Feng's Weibo account showed two posts: one commenting on the death of a 6-year-old girl after receiving the world's first brain gene-editing treatment at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and another about Hong Kong SAR government safety guidelines for bamboo and metal scaffolding. Both posts indicated they were published from Hong Kong.

Later that evening, under her post about Hong Kong's new building regulations, a user asked about the Hu Jintao post. Qin Feng replied: "A fake edited image obvious at first glance. Those who believe it are the basic demographic for telecom scams. No wonder scam parks are so large... so numerous..."

Senior Chinese officials traditionally relocate from Beijing to Beidaihe in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, between July and August for an informal summer working retreat, often including retired leaders. This rumor emerged during that period.

Shortly after the rumor surfaced, Dr. Shen Rongqin, a Canadian political scientist of Taiwanese origin, commented on Facebook, drawing attention from Taiwanese media. His post received over 3,500 likes and 300 shares.

Shen wrote: "Senior CCP officials use special-supply food, making food poisoning highly unlikely. The chance of a 'mass casualty' event is even lower. If the leak were true, it would invite speculation about political struggles among top leaders, including Xi Jinping."

How long has Hu Jintao been out of public view?

In the official CCP newspaper 'People's Daily,' 83-year-old Hu Jintao was last mentioned on March 11 this year. The paper published a Xinhua report on the funeral of former State Councilor Song Ping, stating: "During Song Ping's illness and after his passing, Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, Han Zheng, Hu Jintao, and others visited the hospital or expressed condolences in various forms and extended deep sympathies to the family."

Prior to that, on February 14, 'People's Daily' republished a Xinhua article reporting that current CCP General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders visited retired officials ahead of the Lunar New Year. Hu Jintao was mentioned in that report.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs' official newspaper 'China Social News,' 53-year-old Hu Haifeng's most recent public appearance was delivering a speech at a Ministry of Civil Affairs legal awareness event in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, on June 30.

Hu Jintao's last widely known public appearance was at the closing session of the CCP's 20th National Congress on October 22, 2022. He was seen being assisted off the stage mid-session during Xi Jinping's speech, sparking widespread attention.

Who is Qin Feng?

Qin Feng formerly worked as a reporter for Hong Kong's Phoenix TV—whose major shareholder, Zijing Culture Group, is a central state-owned enterprise of China—later serving as the head of Phoenix TV Chinese Channel. She subsequently moved to Hong Kong Satellite Television (HKS). Her verified Weibo account currently does not list her professional background.

In 2009, Phoenix TV's official website featured a special section on Qin Feng, describing her as the "most controversial female reporter" at Phoenix TV Information Channel. The interview noted she once blogged under the pseudonym "Qin Feng Crawling Outside the Soy Sauce Jar."

Semi-official news agency China News Service described Qin Feng as coming from a diplomatic family. Her grandfather Qin Lizi, maternal grandfather Yang Qiliang, and uncle-in-law Li Zhaoxing are all renowned Chinese diplomats. Li Zhaoxing formerly served as Foreign Minister.

During China's 2012 'Two Sessions,' Qin Feng was photographed grabbing the spokesperson's arm while standing next to her uncle-in-law, Li Zhaoxing, at a National People's Congress press conference.

In 2008, during the Sanlu milk powder scandal in China, then-EU Trade Commissioner Mandelson visited China. Qin Feng asked Mandelson if he still had confidence in Chinese dairy products, prompting him to drink a glass of Chinese milk on the spot. Then-Premier Wen Jiabao later publicly said he was "deeply moved" upon seeing the report, increasing Qin Feng's public profile.

In September 2025, Lord Peter Mandelson, then UK Ambassador to the US, was dismissed and investigated by British police after being linked to the investigation into the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.