The rise of Xi Jinping, explained

How Xi Jinping became China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong

Xi Jinping, president of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012, is one of the most powerful political figures in the world. By initiating an unprecedented third term as China’s leader in October, 2022, Xi has signaled that he may plan to remain in power for life – making him the first Chinese leader since Mao Zedong to hold unchecked power over the People’s Republic of China.

But Xi’s connection to Mao goes deeper than a shared outlook that emphasizes unifying the party around a single leader. When Xi was just a young boy, his family – who had held elite party status thanks to his father’s pivotal role in Mao's “Long March” in 1935 – was denounced during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, a chaotic decade of purges and persecution that saw even Mao’s closest allies removed from power. During this time, a teenaged Xi was forced to work hard labor in the countryside outside of Beijing, and his father was imprisoned.

Xi’s subsequent rise after Mao died in 1976 was a methodical process in using his restored elite status as leverage to gain prominent party positions in rural provinces around China, culminating in his promotion to the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 2007.

From there, Xi pulled from Mao’s playbook: purging his political rivals and promoting those with whom he shared close personal ties. This process undid the work of Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, to prevent the consolidation of power around a single leader in China.

By the time his third term began in October 2022, Xi had reshaped the party and Chinese military leadership to be fully packed with Xi loyalists. And even in the face of social upheaval surrounding his failed Zero Covid policy, Xi has shown no sign of giving up any of the power he has consolidated since taking over as leader of the country.

Further reading:

These books and podcasts below helped us understand Xi Jinping’s rise, Xi’s similarities to Mao, how politics changed in the PRC since its founding, and the structure and culture of the CCP:

Coalitions of the Weak by Victor Shih (Associate Professor in China and Pacific Relations at the University of California, San Diego)

Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era by Cheng Li (scholar and expert in Chinese elite politics)

Party of One by Chun Han Wong (Reporter at the Wall Street Journal)

Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century by Orville Schell and John Delury

The Prince by Sue-Lin Wong (Correspondent at The Economist)

These databases and papers were also helpful in gaining a better understanding of Xi Jinping’s alliances and the CCP structure under his terms:

Decoding Chinese Politics interactive by Asia Society Policy Institute

CCP Elite Database by UCSD/Victor Shih

China’s Political System in Charts: A Snapshot Before the 20th Party Congress by Susan V. Lawrence and Mari Y. Lee

Xi Jinping’s Inner Circle by Cheng Li

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[MrHaydnSir]

now this feels like a classic Vox video

[PhilipJackson]

Deng Xiaoping once said “Hide your strength, bide your time.”

Xi certainly heeded those words.

[trangha]

He did the classic moves. "If you want to change the game, join the game and eventually be the game."

[ProdigalGeek]

Thank you for proving that journalism and education today doesn't need to have unnecessary humour to be entertaining. This is amazing stuff.

[oaduloju]

This was very informative. You should turn this into a series on world leaders including Netanyahu, Erdogan, Putin and MBS

[youzhang]

going out of Beijing to other province and even rural area is not simply Xi's strategy, it's actually a political tradition for people who want to go to the high level in the central government in China even at ancient time. It's a kind of training system for central government. Both in ancient China and nowadays PRC, most of the high level central government leaders have some experience of governing local governments.

[InTouchWithBertJ]

I wonder if Xi can also hear this intense background music in his daily life.

[pushyarareddy]

A very well made video. The narration, animation, timelines and many other aspects have fit in so well with each other. Please make more of these : )

[joezhou]

Most of the content is very good, but Xi Jinping did not leave Beijing to go to the bottom to escape anything. For most officials in China to be promoted, going to the bottom is a must. After the Cultural Revolution, after Deng Xiaoping resumed his work, most officials and their families were rehabilitated. There is no danger. Going to the bottom is just to accumulate political capital.

[ordisigipma]

Vox should continue doing this type of videos

[WaiLoon]

Awesome content. Thank you for making this 👍👍👍

[ChescoYT]

Great piece Vox!!
Ty for educating us further

[jasonshen]

4:55 Those Chinese character they are carrying on their backs are meant to teach the troops how to identify and write Chinese while marching, which is why the red army had a much high literacy rate than the nationalist later in the civil war.

[Kabutoes]

This is the craziest revenge story I’ve heard of

[sjfwilo]

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

[Expandacraftboats]

Subscribed.. I like the production quality as much as the content. Good job.

[tokenblackwoman]

He really played the long game to gain power.

[nathangillingham]

Xi studied chemical engineering at university, not philosophy. The program at the time required 15% of student's time be committed to studying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and 5% of the time doing work in the country side.

[ladylandr]

Vox did an amazing job on this video. If only the video were 3 hours long. 😊🤔😊

[ziqi]

My dad, who lived through the Cultural Revolution, often said this about Mao: “Chiang only taught you how to fire a gun. Mao taught you how to fight with your spirit. This is why he (proverbially) won the civil war in the end.”

Mao was an incredible wartime leader, but he was a garbage peacetime leader.