In the almost one-hundred-year existence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its current general secretary, Xi Jinping, is only the second leader clearly chosen by his peers. The first was Mao Zedong. Both men beat out the competition, and thus secured a legitimacy their predecessors lacked.Getting to know Xi Jinping as one of the most powerful men in the world and China's most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping.
Why was Xi chosen?
The New York Review of Books
China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi
Roderick MacFarquhar
Going back to village for re-education was cruel and unusual but these princelings from the party that were purged and brought back seem to do very well in leadership positions, politics and school.
ReplyDeleteThe Hard graft and simple life that shaped the characters of these men will be foreign to next generation of Chinese leader. They will likely be far less enlightened and far more western in their belief systems because they will only have exposure to the easy privileged life.
Their exposure to the outside world will only be shaped by elite academic teachings and belief systems of university type ideology based on idealized models and theory. I'm sure that most of the same plagues that western nations endure with poor outcomes and consequences in virtually every aspect of government, society and life will also increasingly infect China.
China is already trying to solve the problem there with second generation rich, mostly Western educated. I wouldn't be surprised to see the institution of new retraining program not as harsh as the one under Mao, but needed to keep the country from becoming another neoliberal morass.
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