Chen Xi

Chen Xi (; born 16 September 1953) is a Chinese politicia. Between 2017 and 2022, Chen was a member of the Politburo of the CCP and a secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP, serving as the head of the party's Organization Department. A graduate from Tsinghua University, Chen was the CCP committee secretary of the institution from 2002 to 2008. Thereafter he served as a vice-minister of education and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology. He also served as president of the Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2017 to 2026.

Early life and education Chen traces his ancestry to Putian, Fujian province, and was born on 16 September 1953 in the provincial capital Fuzhou. He worked in his youth at a mechanics factory attached to Fuzhou University, working there from 1970 to 1975. Shortly after the resumption of higher education at the end of the Cultural Revolution, Chen attended Tsinghua University as a Worker-Peasant-Soldier student, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1978. As an undergraduate at Tsinghua, he was friends with Xi Jinping, a fellow classmate at the time.

Chen joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in November 1978. After graduating from Tsinghua he returned to Fuzhou University to become a lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering. In September 1979 he headed back to Tsinghua where he completed a master's degree in chemical engineering. He stayed at Tsinghua to work for the Communist Party and its affiliated Communist Youth League of China (CYCL) as a political organizer. He served as the director of the Sports Department and deputy secretary of the CYLC Tsinghua Committee from 1982 to 1984, and as its secretary from 1984 to 1990. In September 2010, Chen was sent to Liaoning to serve as Deputy Communist Party Secretary of the province, where he served for a mere seven months. In April 2011 Chen became the head of the party branch and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), succeeding Deng Nan.

In April 2013, following the ascension of Xi Jinping to the posts of General Secretary and President, Chen left his post at CAST and was transferred to become executive deputy head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Chen is widely seen as a confidant and ally of Xi Jinping.

After the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, Chen stepped down as a member of the Politburo and as the head of the Organization Department in April 2023, being succeeded by Li Ganjie. He retained his role as the president of the Central Party School until 5 June 2026, when he was succeeded by Cai Qi.

Chen was a member of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and was a member of the 16th and 17th Central Commissions for Discipline Inspection. Beginning in 2013, he also was a member of the Central Leading Group for Inspection Work.