It was the only interruption in one of the most precise choreographic events in China:

the former leader of the country, Hu Jintao, was suddenly brought out the closing ceremony of the Chinese Communist Party congress held twice a decade.

The congress, where China’s next leaders are anointed, is the most important political event for a ruling party obsessed with control.

Every detail, whether it’s the result of your choices or the way the waiters serve the tea, is planned.

Nothing unexpected happens.

Nothing can happen without a script.

Except this year, it happened.

The approximately 2,000 congressional delegates had just voted for the party’s prestigious Central Committee.

Hu, who seemed reluctant to leave, was then led out of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two men.

The moment, captured on video by reporters who had been admitted into the room a few minutes earlier, sparked wild questions and speculation.

Hu, 79, suffered from health problems, as the Chinese state media would later report?

Or was it purged in a dramatic show by the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinpingfor the world to see?

“This was an extraordinary episode, even during the Mao period, there has not been a dramatic collapse of Congress like this,” said Victor Shih, a specialist in Chinese politics at the University of California, San Diego.

The world may never know the answer, given the sheer secrecy surrounding Chinese high politics.

But it provides a deconstruction of the video footage additional details and context on the moment thus examined.

In the minutes before Hu is taken away, he appears to be looking for a document on the table, chaired by the party’s top leaders and retired elders.

The man on his left, Li Zhanshu, the current official of the No. 3, quickly enters and covers it with a red folder.

Then he scrolls through the document and speaks into Hu’s ear.

It is unclear what the document was, but all officials appeared to have the documents.

A photo of one of the pages, taken later, appears to show that it was a list of names, with the words “Central Committee“.

Congress was about to announce the new Central Committee, which would make it clear that Xi had ousted the moderates in favor of the loyalists.

Historically, major party leaders and retired seniors have a great influence on selection.

The delegates have not yet voted on amendments to the party’s constitution, on approving Xi’s progress report from the previous five years or on a report on the party’s internal discipline.

The amendments, revealed later, reaffirmed the importance of Xi as the “nucleus” of the party.

Previous party meetings have been the scene of political maneuvers and humiliations of former leaders.

In 1959 the party adopted formally a resolution denouncing Peng Dehuai, a senior military officer, after criticizing Mao Zedong’s economic policies.

During the Cultural Revolution, many leaders, including Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, were publicly purged or humiliated.

But those moments pre-date the internet age and were clearly intentional.

It is by no means clear that Hu’s departure was planned and many analysts have warned against making assumptions.

The apparent chaos of the following moments led many to read the scene as unscripted.

1. Xi looks across the room.

Xi is then approached by an assistant, who approaches him and touches a piece of paper.

The aide approaches to say something to Hu, who had observed the previous exchange out of the corner of his eye, apparently listening.

2. As Xi watches, the aide grabs Hu’s right arm, as if trying to pull him out of his seat.

Hu pulls his arm back. The man tries to lift the former leaders from behind, under his arms, but once again fails.

3. Hu then picks up the newspaper in front of Xi, who is holding the leader.

4. When the aide finally manages to convince Hu to get up from his chair, Li, officer number 3, half gets up from his chair and seems to be moving to get involved in the situation. Another official, Wang Huning, the party’s number one at the time.

5 The Leader: Lower Li.

Li and Wang represent a changing of the guard at the height of power in China:

the Politburo Standing Committee appeared the next day.

Li had reached retirement age and was leaving. Wang is the party’s principal theorist and has served as an ideological advisor to both current and former leaders; In this congress he was promoted to position number 4 and is considered close to Xi.

With the Politburo Standing Committee now full of its allies,

Xi will encounter little resistance to his agenda, which includes strengthening national security and reshaping the global order to better fit Beijing.

None of the new leaders have the experience or are young enough to be considered possible The successors of Xi.

5. As the two aides begin to lead Hu away from his seat, the senior leader stops to say something to Xi.

Xi nods briefly, without turning completely to look at him.

Hu then slaps Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, on the back.

Li nods too, but doesn’t turn completely around either.

The prime minister has long been regarded as Hu’s ally and protégé.

He rose through the ranks of the party in part thanks to his leadership roles in the Communist Youth League, a party organization that Hu once led.

At least two other people seated at the front table have long-standing ties to Hu.

Wang Yang and Hu Chunhua, the fourth outgoing member of the party and Chinese deputy premier, were also affiliated with the Communist Youth League.

The new senior official lineup that was unveiled the next day excluding those three so-called proteges of Hu, breaking with the tradition of balancing different party factions at the helm.

6. As Hu is escorted out of the hall, he passes 19 other senior party officials seated at the same long table.

Hardly any of them give any indication that something out of the ordinary is going on.

Some are immersed in the conversation.

Most look straight ahead.

Wu Guoguang, a professor at the University of Victoria in Canada who served as an advisor to a former Chinese prime minister, said he did not want to speculate on what happened.

But he said he was stunned by the cold reaction of the officials.

“Here is Hu Jintao, the former prominent leader of your party and a man who had given many of you political opportunities.

And how do you treat him now?

Wu said in a podcast interview with New York Times columnist Li Yuan.

“This incident proved the tragic reality of Chinese politics and the fundamental lack of human decency in the Communist Party.

After Hu’s departure, the closing ceremony continued and his empty front row seat was the only reminder of the interruption.

For most people in China, the whole episode may never have happened.

Chinese censorship limited search results of Hu’s name on social media to official account posts, none of which mentioned his departure.

The state broadcaster’s news that night showed footage of Hu’s vote, and then of his empty seat later in the ceremony, with no explanation.

On Saturday night, Xinhua, the state news agency, offered the first official acknowledgment of his departure, tweeting that Hu was “not feeling well” and had been put to rest.

“Now he is much better”, reads the post.

But Twitter is blocked in China and neither Xinhua nor has any other official media published a similar explanation within China’s Internet firewall, further fueling speculation about the incident.

Regardless of what happened, the symbolism was unmistakable.

A former Supreme Leader, historically the only person with the stature to challenge a current one, was ushered offstage.

This left only one man in the spotlight:

Xi, about to enter his third term, is the most powerful Chinese leader of recent decades.

Keith Bradsher contributed to the report.

c.2022 The New York Times Company