On July 30, the Social Organization Management Bureau of the Ministry of Civil Affairs published a notice detailing typical cases of violations and illegal activities within the social organization sector. The notice stated that since 2026, various regions and departments have been deepening efforts to rectify irregularities among industry associations, chambers of commerce, and other social organizations, seriously investigating a number of cases involving violations of rules and laws. Among these, it disclosed the accountability situation regarding the previously notable issue of the Ningxia Catering and Hotel Association holding an excessive number of leadership positions during its re-election.
An investigation revealed that in April 2025, the Ningxia Catering and Hotel Association submitted 29 candidates for leadership positions to the registration authority without first seeking approval from the industry management department. It then held a member representative meeting and irregularly elected 83 leaders. In January 2026, the association arbitrarily changed the annual meeting agenda, adding a procedure to increase the number of vice-presidents, and illegally elected another 8 vice-presidents. In February 2026, relevant authorities imposed an administrative penalty of suspending the activities of the Ningxia Catering and Hotel Association for three months. Responsibility was pursued against nine individuals, including personnel from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Civil Affairs, and the association itself. In April 2026, authorities imposed a disciplinary warning within the Party on the association's Party branch secretary, Wang, and removed him from his position as Party branch secretary.
Earlier reports noted that news about the Ningxia Catering and Hotel Association having 89 "vice-presidents" sparked widespread attention online. On February 13, 2026, a joint investigation team released a "Notice on the Investigation and Handling of Issues such as Excess Allocation of Leaders in the Ningxia Catering and Hotel Association's Re-election," which stated: On April 15, 2025, the association held its third first member representative meeting for re-election, electing 83 new leaders. On January 9, 2026, it held its third second member general meeting, adding 8 vice-presidents (with one vice-president announced twice). A total of 90 leaders were elected across these two events (including 1 president, 1 secretary-general, 10 executive vice-presidents, 74 vice-presidents, and 4 specially invited vice-presidents). According to Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the "Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Social Organization Election Work Procedures (Trial)" (Ningmin Fa [2022] No. 64), which states that "the number of directors must not exceed one-third of the membership, the number of executive directors must not exceed one-third of the directors, the total number of leaders must not exceed half of the executive directors, and must be an odd number, with a maximum of 40," the issue of the association exceeding the allowed number of leaders was confirmed. The handling outcome indicated that the election results were deemed invalid, administrative penalties were imposed according to law, a new re-election was guided, and relevant personnel were held accountable.
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