"The Chairman of Everything"
September 19, 2015 3:56 PM   Subscribe

Born Red is a long profile of Xi Jinping, President of China, by Evan Osnos of The New Yorker. Osnos explains the character and policies of China's current leader through his biography. He was privileged son of a revolutionary leader. After the father fell from grace, the son endured a troubled decade. His father was invited back into the fold, and Xi rose through the ranks all the way to the top. Xi is considered the leader of the informal princeling faction of the Chinese Communist Party. He has put a focus on combating corruption, which had gone out of control in the last couple of decades, and stifling dissent. Recent months have seen tumultuous stock markets and a large army parade. Since coming to power, a personality cult has been promoted by the state. Jeffrey Wasserstrom makes a comparison between the Chinese President and the Pope.
posted by Kattullus (10 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is that 'combating corruption' or is it actually 'combating unsanctioned corruption'?
posted by sammyo at 4:20 PM on September 19, 2015


The question seems to be whether it's combating corruption and/or interfactional strife. Osnos writes in Born Red:
By the end of 2014, the Party had announced the punishment of more than a hundred thousand officials on corruption charges. Many foreign observers asked if Xi's crusade was truly intended to stamp out corruption or if it was a tool to attack his enemies. It was not simply one or the other: corruption had become so threatening to the Party's legitimacy that only the most isolated leader could have avoided forcing it back to a more manageable level, but railing against corruption was also a proven instrument for political consolidation, and at the highest levels Xi has deployed it largely against his opponents. Geremie Barme, the historian who heads the Australian Centre on China in the World, analyzed the forty-eight most high-profile arrests, and discovered that none of them were second-generation reds. "I don't call it an anticorruption campaign," a Western diplomat told me. "This is grinding trench warfare."
"Second-generation reds" means roughly the same as "princelings".
posted by Kattullus at 4:27 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


The most recent extradition before State visit is most intriguing.

Bo Xilai is the most interesting fish of the last five years.

Ji has charisma and some of that Deng Xiaoping stamina.

Back to you, __________!
posted by clavdivs at 5:56 PM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


'combating corruption' and 'stifling dissent' can never really both be done at the same time.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:34 PM on September 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Well that's true. You smash corruption, what is there to dissent.
posted by clavdivs at 7:12 PM on September 19, 2015


On the other hand, if he tried to stamp out corruption among his political allies, he would not even be in power. That's why "power corrupts."
posted by I-Write-Essays at 7:20 PM on September 19, 2015


Oh, and in case anyone who knows Chinese pops into this thread, I posted to Ask MetaFilter about a reference to Greek myth in one of Xi's recent speeches.
posted by Kattullus at 5:28 AM on September 20, 2015


I remember reading about Xi Jinping's takedown of Bo Xilai in Epoch Times as it was happening. It was gripping stuff.

(If you want to dig into the power plays going on in China right now, Epoch Times is a great English-language source. They've got a pet issue (persecution of Falun Gong), but for sheer amount of coverage in English they can't be beat.)

I wonder how many of the "princelings" who hold power in China now are direct descendants of the few thousand people who completed the Long March. It's amazing how strong a core of command and control that episode created.
posted by clawsoon at 9:24 AM on September 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


-China: The Superpower of Mr. Xi
-Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite
-China blocks Bloomberg for exposing financial affairs of Xi Jinping's family

fwiw, an uncle was there in early august and was raving about china, chinese technology and wechat in particular, so i wrote back...
While the strides in Chinese technology over the last decade certainly are impressive and China does have ~$4tn in reserve (much of it in US Treasuries), I'd note that WeChat, et al., exist in large part because of the 'Great Firewall'.

Somewhat alarming to me right now are the following: also btw...
-Why Thinking about China is the Key to a Free World
-Austrian Economics Might Explain China's Turmoil

The key for me, from a financial and economic perspective, is whether China opens up its capital account, that is allow free convertibility of RMB/CNY in the foreign exchange markets. By some reports China is already seeing large capital outflows (enough to drain $4tn relatively quickly) but then I've also heard that China is preparing to open up its capital account soon, which would suggest that China's monetary and fiscal authorities are fairly confident that they can manage the current 'crisis', if you can call it that yet.

Anyway, just a note of caution and interesting regardless...
posted by kliuless at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2015


How the most powerful person on earth views the world: The World According to Xi Jinping - "China's president has staked his reputation on fulfilling the 'Chinese Dream'. Here's what he envisions..."
What emerged for me was Xiism—what I’d describe as an ethno-nationalist variant of Marxism, which holds that the people of China are heirs to a unique civilization and a utopian destiny that entitle them to a privileged position in the world. This destiny can only be achieved by following the moral leadership of Xi Jinping, who in his person (due to his birth and upbringing) embodies the virtues of the people and is their champion.

If Xi’s program is duly followed, Xiism promises a pinnacle of prosperity in 2049—precisely 100 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China—at which point Xi avers that the Communist Party will “solve all the country’s problems” and the Chinese Dream will be fulfilled. China will be “strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious,” he vows, adding that in his view, “realizing the great renewal of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream in modern history.”

...the state is tapping into both imperial tradition and lingering nostalgia for Red China to present the Chinese leader as everything to everybody: a Marxist messiah for leftists, a people’s emperor for peasants, and a righteous, thundering Jeremiah for urban constituencies fed up with corruption.
posted by kliuless at 3:56 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


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