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Who really is Xi Jinping? Find out the journey of China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. Know his family legacy, his revolutionary father’s ties to Mao, and how centuries of imperial tradition shaped the world’s most formidable communist ruler. How did Xi transform China with ruthless purges and unwavering ambition? Uncover the man, the myth, and know if his grip on power is losing up.
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00:00For more than 2,000 years, China was ruled by a series of imperial dynasties,
00:11powerful families passing thrones from one generation to the next.
00:15The last dynasty in China was the Qing dynasty.
00:19By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the country suffered from instability,
00:25corruption, foreign invasions and widespread poverty.
00:28Reform efforts failed and the imperial system was seen as outdated by many revolutionaries.
00:36Discontented army units along with revolutionary groups launched an uprising in Wuxiang.
00:42The revolt spread quickly to other parts of China.
00:46Within weeks, 15 of 24 provinces declared independence from the Qing Empire.
00:51The primary cause was the advent and onslaught of imperialism, Western imperialism first and then Japanese imperialism.
01:01So, you know, the government, the dynastic government, the Manchu government had very little resources for themselves
01:13because much of it was taken away by the colonial powers.
01:18They did not rule China, but big parts of China were under their control.
01:23So, you know, and then because of that, because of lack of resources,
01:29the government did not have enough money for welfare activities or for development growth.
01:36And whatever little they had, they had to spend, they had to do a lot of military spending
01:40because there were rebellions and revolts all over, small and big.
01:44And revolutionaries demanded a new form of government.
01:49Then came Sun Yat-sen, considered as the father of the nation in China.
01:55He led the revolutionary movement from exile.
01:58On 1st of January 1912, representatives of independent provinces elected Sun Yat-sen
02:04as provisional president of the new Republic of China.
02:07A commemorative calendar from 1912 displays the five-color flag and Sun Yat-sen's portrait,
02:13marking the historic shift from monarchy to republic.
02:17But there was a problem.
02:19Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary government did not have a strong army.
02:23So, to avoid the civil war, he agreed to transfer the presidency to Yuan Shikai,
02:29a commander in the Cheng army.
02:31In exchange for becoming the provisional president,
02:33Shikai forced the abdication of the Cheng throne.
02:37The early republic was unstable.
02:39Yuan Shikai tried to rule as a new emperor,
02:42but was soon forced out.
02:45Civil authority was weak.
02:47Generals and warlords controlled different regions of China.
02:51This led to years of chaos and division.
02:54Sun Yat-sen once again appeared.
02:56And then came the nationalist unification under his party, the Kuomintang,
03:01with leaders like Chiang Kai-shek,
03:03who sought to reunify China after years of warlord rule.
03:06During this time, intellectuals got inspired by Marxist ideas
03:10and the communist revolution in Russia.
03:13There was a surge in radical thought
03:15and the study of communism among students and young intellectuals.
03:19Dispersed communist activists united into a national party
03:23called Chinese Communist Party.
03:25This included 12 representatives,
03:28including Chengdu-shu, Li Da Zhao, Mao Zedong and others.
03:33Chengdu-shu was chosen as the CCP's first general secretary.
03:38With the support of the CCP,
03:40Sun Yat-sen's KMT launched the expedition
03:43and unified most of China under its central government in Nanjing.
03:53But the unity between the nationalist KMT and communist CCP was short-lived.
03:58In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a purge of communist and leftists,
04:03known as the Shanghai Massacre.
04:05The communists under leaders like Mao Zedong
04:08fled to the countryside
04:09and began building their own bases using guerrilla tactics.
04:13For the next decade,
04:14the CCP and KMT fought battles for control,
04:17with the CCP focusing on peasant mobilization and rural uprisings.
04:22In 1934, KMT forces encircled Mao Zedong's Red Army.
04:27About 86,000 soldiers and thousands of civilian supporters
04:31broke through the weakest points in the nationalist lines.
04:35Mao Zedong then took on the grueling long march.
04:37A 6,000-mile retreat across China to escape destruction.
04:42Only a small fraction survived.
04:44But it was during the long march that Mao Zedong emerged
04:48as the unchallenged leader of the CCP,
04:51consolidating his reputation and authority.
04:55China at that time was very unstable.
04:58There was no one government really ruling the country.
05:01The country was divided among a large number of so-called warlords.
05:07And of course, there was a government in Beijing and Chiang Kai-shek was there,
05:14the most powerful person.
05:15But the communists succeeded.
05:18Of course, it took them time to succeed.
05:20They were in an area called Chinkang Shan,
05:25which is mountainous, and it was easy for them, for the guerrillas to hide there.
05:31And then guerrilla tactics finally helped them defeat all their enemies.
05:36First, the Japanese.
05:37But that was, of course, later.
05:38But when they had set up the base area in Chiang Kai-shek's army made three or four attempts to destroy them.
05:56But they didn't succeed because of guerrilla tactics.
06:00They were hiding, you know, with the local people and local people gave them support.
06:06And the Kuomintang was using, Chiang Kai-shek's army was using conventional, you know, methods to fight them.
06:15And then, of course, they had to, finally, when they were really, you know, encircled by the, you know,
06:25by the opponents, the Kuomintang army, they managed to find a route and reached northern China region called Yenang,
06:34where they again settled down and they were able to, you know, practice many of their policies,
06:40which they had, you know, announced.
06:43And meanwhile, it took a lot of time.
06:46The Kuomintang couldn't actually reach that area.
06:50And, of course, instability helped them to move, you know.
06:54Otherwise, any government would have, you know, any stable government would have been able to deal with them.
07:01The communists got peasant support and scored major victories.
07:05By late 1949, the communist forces had swept through most of mainland China.
07:11Chiang Kai-shek and the remaining nationalist government retreated to the island of Taiwan.
07:16On October 1st, 1949, Mao Zedong stood atop Tiananmen Gate
07:21and proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China,
07:26marking the communist victory and the start of a new era on the mainland.
07:31He declared,
07:31The Chinese people have stood up.
07:40Mao Zedong was a son of a peasant.
07:42He was born in 1893 in Shaoshan village in Hunan province
07:47to a family of relatively affluent farmers.
07:50Mao Zedong grew up working on his family's farm,
07:53but always sought more than rural life could offer.
07:57From a young age, he rebelled against his strict father
08:00and rejected an arranged marriage.
08:03Mao's mind was shaped by classic Chinese novels
08:06about warrior heroes and tales of rebellion.
08:10In his teens, he left home, pursued further studies
08:14and became fascinated with revolutionary ideas and political change.
08:19He had a fight with his father and left home
08:21because his father was opposed to his studying.
08:24He wanted him to be a farmer.
08:26So one day he was caught reading a book
08:28and then when he went home, his father beat him very badly.
08:33So he left home
08:34and after that, many, many years later,
08:36he went back to his hometown, to his village.
08:40So his experience was, of course,
08:43different from that of Xi Jinping.
08:45Xi Jinping was mainly in the urban area
08:49and Xi Jinping's father was Xi Chung Sun, I think.
08:55That was his name.
08:56Yeah, he was with the Communist Party
08:59and he was first during the Cultural Revolution.
09:02So Xi Jinping saw all that.
09:05Whereas Mao's experience was very, very different.
09:08He came, China was, you know,
09:10the Communist Party was nowhere there.
09:12He moved to, you know, the capital of Hunan
09:16and somehow managed to get himself educated.
09:19Much of that story is not known to the world.
09:23So then, of course, he, you know,
09:25he was trained as a librarian, you know,
09:29in library science, he joined Beijing University library.
09:33And then, you know,
09:34when the Communist Party was formed,
09:36he became part of it.
09:37The 1911 revolution, which toppled the Qing dynasty,
09:40inspired Mao Zirong to briefly join the revolutionary army
09:44as a private soldier and not in active combat.
09:47During the Long March, Mao's leadership was tested
09:50and he emerged as the top leader of the communist movement.
09:55During the Long March, Mao Zedong rebuilt his power,
09:59forging bonds with loyal comrades.
10:03Among them was Xi Jinping's father.
10:14Born in 1953, Xi Jinping grew up among China's elite.
10:19Son of senior Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping,
10:22he was living in Lakshmi.
10:24But Mao Zedong's rule was ruthless,
10:29even to his own allies.
10:31Mao Zedong purged many during the Cultural Revolution,
10:35decade-long mass campaign against enemies.
10:39He enforced communist ideology
10:41and transformed society
10:43by targeting intellectuals and political rivals
10:47through widespread violence.
10:50Xi Jinping's father was also denounced,
10:53imprisoned and vanished from politics.
10:57Mao declared,
10:59the revolution is not a dinner party.
11:01The communist party already existed
11:04when Xi Jinping was growing up.
11:07But of course,
11:08his father's,
11:09you know,
11:10the experience that,
11:12I mean,
11:12the treatment that was meted out to his father
11:15made him,
11:16you know,
11:17probably made him strong,
11:19made him believe that,
11:20you know,
11:21leaders can get away with anything.
11:24And so,
11:25if and when he becomes a leader,
11:27you know,
11:27he'll be able to get away with anything and everything.
11:30And that's what is happening in China now.
11:33All of a sudden,
11:34teenage Xi Jinping went from palaces to poverty.
11:38He fled to the countryside,
11:39endured years of farm labor and political suspicion.
11:43When Mao Zedong died in 1976,
11:46a power struggle broke out
11:48at the highest levels of leadership.
11:51Mao was succeeded by Hua Guafeng,
11:53who took over all the formal roles of leadership.
11:56But,
11:57he faced opposition from Mao's wife,
11:59Jiang Qing,
11:59and three of her allies.
12:02But because of the violence during the Cultural Revolution,
12:05all of them were arrested and purged.
12:07Posters at the time portrayed them as traitors.
12:10The four eventually went on trial,
12:12and the courtroom drama played out on TV.
12:15All of them were jailed for life.
12:17Jiang Qing hanged herself in a hospital bathroom,
12:21where she had been released to on medical grounds in 1991.
12:25But Hua who took over the power was himself usurped by Deng Xiaoping.
12:31Deng Xiaoping took control,
12:33opening up the battered country.
12:35He encouraged reform,
12:36pushing China toward modernization,
12:38with the famous slogan,
12:39it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white,
12:41as long as it catches mice.
12:44Xi Jinping quietly returned,
12:46starting his career in tiny towns and provinces,
12:49firstly as a humble village party secretary,
12:52and then steadily climbing through the ranks.
12:54In places like Zheng Ding and Fujian,
12:57Xi Jinping built a reputation for discipline and order.
13:00Xi's rise in China's secret Politburo,
13:03the machinery of power was a breakthrough.
13:06You see, at the top of China's political system sits the Politburo,
13:10the leadership council of the Chinese Communist Party.
13:14Even more powerful is its inner circle,
13:16the Politburo Standing Committee,
13:18usually just seven men.
13:21No elections for president as in the West,
13:23top leaders are chosen behind closed doors
13:26by party elders and loyalists.
13:28Xi Jinping entered this inner sanctum in 2007.
13:32By 2008, he became vice president,
13:35and in 2010, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
13:40And by 2012, emerged as general secretary,
13:44China's most powerful post.
13:47He was elected by the National People's Congress in March 2013,
13:50formalizing his control over the state.
14:00Once in control,
14:01Xi Jinping set out to bring everything under his command.
14:05The media, the military, the internet,
14:08the courts, all would answer to the party,
14:10and the party answered to Xi.
14:12Xi launched sweeping anti-corruption purges,
14:15eliminating rivals and consolidating loyalty.
14:18He changed term limits in 2018,
14:21meaning he could rule for life if he wished,
14:24just like Mao Zedong.
14:26Xi Jinping, you know, his inspiration is Mao,
14:30which is rather strange.
14:32And he believes that, you know,
14:35he alone understands China's problem,
14:38and he doesn't trust anybody else really.
14:42And therefore, you know,
14:43this one-man rule is, you know,
14:46he's getting institutionalized in China.
14:49And to make China a better place,
14:53in his opinion,
14:54he first decided to fight corruption.
14:57While fighting corruption,
14:58he removed many senior,
15:01you know,
15:02party and army officials from power.
15:06So, one reason why he wants to stay on in power is
15:10that if he leaves power,
15:12then all these people and the followers,
15:15you know,
15:15who have been affected by,
15:17you know,
15:17his policy of purges,
15:19may get back on him.
15:21So, you know,
15:22it won't be,
15:23you know,
15:25his life will become,
15:27you know,
15:27really,
15:28I mean,
15:28they may kill him also.
15:30They may declare him as a,
15:31you know,
15:32criminal and,
15:33you know,
15:34persecute him.
15:35So, he has to remain there.
15:37So, he's antagonized too many people,
15:40you know,
15:40as a party chief.
15:42Mao,
15:43Deng and Xi,
15:44all crushed opposition and censored dissent.
15:48Mao Zedong once said,
15:50let a hundred flowers bloom,
15:52let a hundred schools of thought contend.
15:55But,
15:55when he was criticized,
15:57his response was unforgiving.
15:59Deng was the same.
16:01He quashed the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
16:05Thousands demanding freedom,
16:07met with tanks and tragedy.
16:09Officially,
16:09the subject was erased from Chinese books and media.
16:12And now,
16:14under Xi Jinping,
16:15censorship is even stricter.
16:18Social media is monitored.
16:20Dissent is silenced in Hong Kong,
16:21Tibet and Xinjiang.
16:23Journalists,
16:24even celebrities vanish,
16:25if they cross the red line.
16:28During COVID-19,
16:29rare protests spread.
16:31And Xi Jinping faced public anger.
16:34Yet,
16:35the iron grip stayed.
16:38Under Mao Zedong,
16:39there was economic chaos,
16:41famine and industry experiments that failed.
16:44Under Deng's era,
16:45there were factories,
16:46foreign investment,
16:47and millions were lifted out of poverty.
16:50And under Xi,
16:51there came massive growth,
16:53but with heavy government intervention.
16:56Technology,
16:57green energy,
16:58and superfast trains,
17:00but more state control.
17:02Trade wars and global tensions
17:05shaped the new economy.
17:07Promises of one country,
17:09two systems in Hong Kong
17:10faded as Xi Jinping cracked down on protests
17:14and imposed stricter new laws.
17:17China claims Taiwan as its own.
17:19Xi insists,
17:21reunification must be fulfilled.
17:24There are heavy security
17:25and tight restrictions in Tibet.
17:28And millions of Uyghurs in Xinjiang
17:30face internment,
17:32surveillance,
17:33and re-education.
17:35Called by Xi
17:35as fighting extremism.
17:38The United Nations calls it
17:40human rights abuse.
17:42In China,
17:42power is risky.
17:44Many top leaders mysteriously disappear,
17:47die suddenly,
17:48or are purged.
17:49Mao's rivals,
17:50Deng's challengers,
17:52and Xi's critics.
17:55Xi Jinping has only one goal.
18:01One party,
18:02one leader,
18:03one vision for China's future.
18:05For critics,
18:06he is China's most powerful
18:07and controlling leader
18:09since Mao Zedong.
18:10For supporters,
18:11he restored pride and power.
18:14But one thing that history
18:15has shown time and again is this.
18:17In China,
18:18power comes at a big price.
18:20Well,
18:21anybody who has tried to,
18:23you know,
18:23predict anything in China
18:25has failed miserably.
18:27Right?
18:27So,
18:27I wouldn't predict anything really.
18:30But what I will say is that
18:31from the trend,
18:33it seems that,
18:34you know,
18:36Xi's popularity
18:37is gradually going down.
18:39You know,
18:39when he,
18:40till 2018,
18:41during his first term,
18:43he was fairly popular.
18:44but later on,
18:46particularly after declaring that,
18:49you know,
18:50or changing the constitution,
18:51removing the provision of two terms,
18:54you know,
18:55two terms for a president,
18:56he became unpopular,
18:58you know,
19:00first amongst the elite,
19:01the intellectuals,
19:02and then among others also,
19:05because they feel that,
19:06you know,
19:07a change in leadership
19:08is required to bring in new life.
19:11And if he continues for another,
19:14you know,
19:1410,
19:1415,
19:1520 years,
19:15till he is alive,
19:17China's,
19:18you know,
19:18the Chinese system will not change much.
19:22So,
19:23this is the reason why,
19:24you know,
19:25they are,
19:26they are,
19:27not too much in favor of Xi Jinping.
19:31And the,
19:32as I said,
19:32the educated class much more
19:35than the others.
19:36What do you think how long Xi Jinping will rule China for?
19:40Drop your comments down below.
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