MAO AND XI: STORY OF THE MAN, STORY OF THE PEOPLE

Bryce Kositz

S XI JINPING the new Chairman and Xi built a story, or mythos, about IMao? Now that the Chinese Com- their lives that positioned themselves munist Party (CCP) has eliminated as the representative of as the two-term limit for the leader of a whole, with their personal struggles the People’s Republic of , there’s being depicted as identical to those of nothing to stop Xi from serving as China. leader-for-life — despite official deni- Mao told his version of his story to als that he intends to do so. Like Mao American journalist Edgar Snow, who Zedong, Xi has carefully crafted a nar- published his account, Red Star Over rative of his personal history to legiti- China, in 1937. As he described it to mise his power and policies. Both Mao Snow, each period of his life followed

Liu Shaoqi (L), (C), and Edgar Snow (R), 1960 Source: Wikipedia CHINA STORY YEARBOOK Mao and Xi: Story of the Man, Story of the People 11 10 POWER Bryce Kositz closing sentence of a short,autobio It canbe summedcitizens. up by the realities of China’s least privileged while remaininggrounded inthe who achieved power andprominence tive is that of the ‘man of the people’ the CCP in 2012. His preferred narra- ranks to of becomeGeneralSecretary lution before eventually climbing the in Shaanxi during the Cultural Revo work intheruralareaof Liangjiahe Zhongxun, XiJinping was sent to that of theParty —and China itself. that of the Party; Mao’svictory was ment.embodied struggle His personal Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist govern - and Japanese the both against fighting the rightto leadtheCCP, which was Party andrivals within it, until hewon struggled with enemies outsidethe cluding .Hepersevered and himself in new, Western topics in- his highly traditionalfather to educate 1839–42 Opium War. Hestruggledwith tablished their power over it since the from the foreign powers that had es ed China’s struggle for independence Mao’s narrative of his life story reflect ideas eventually emerged victorious. his and he him, with fight to allies ing for pointing itout, but after gather- right from wrong andwas punished a similarpattern: Maorecognised The sonof Mao’scomrade Xi - - - - nect with ‘old friends’. agricultural survey in 1985 to recon- in Iowa that hehad visited duringan Secretary, Xi even returned to a town General as US the to visit first his ing China’s progressover his lifetime. Dur- power through hard work: amirror of humble by experience, and rising to as China’s son,revolutionary by birth, all its counties’. and characteristics of Zhejiang and and personally experienced the state mountains and watersof Zhejiang’s … jiang by saying, ‘I have seennearly all work as provincial governor in Zhe 黄土地 I will always be a son of the loess lands graphical work: ‘No matter where I go, he connected to alltheChinese people, Source: Wikipedia Zhongxun, 1958 with hisyoungerbrother,XiYuanping, andfather,Xi Five-year-oldXiJinping(L) ‘Son oftheloesslands’: ’. 1 Similarly, he described his 2 Xi presents himself 3 So, notonly is -

Xi also has friends abroad — an impor- nition within the CCP stood in for the tant point for an outward-looking Chi- history of China from the beginning na. These friends in Iowa, moreover, of its loss of national independence in reinforce Xi’s story about remaining the 1840 Opium War; the story of all grounded in the struggles of the least Chinese history since 1840 condensed privileged, even as China asserts itself down into the story of one man — Mao. globally. Mao thus predicted that, just as he had Both Mao and Xi spoke sparingly gained control of CCP to fix the prob- about their personal histories and only lems within the Party, so would his during the early years of their political power within China solve its national career, thereafter letting their allies problems. This legitimised his power elaborate on their stories for them. Of over the Party and explained the ne- his interview with Mao, Edgar Snow cessity of his policies of resistance and remarked that, ‘During Mao’s recollec- collectivisation. tions of his past I noticed that an audi- Xi’s story about rising through tor at least as interested as myself was the ranks of the Party while remaining Ho Tze-nien [He Zizhen] — his wife. in touch with all levels of society sim- Many of the facts he told about him- ilarly projects a narrative of China’s self and the Communist movement she retention of its revolutionary ideals had evidently never heard before’.4 after 1949. The story portrays Xi, and Snow’s interview of Mao is one of the the Chinese nation as, having learned only records of Mao discussing his per- the revolutionary morality of the Mao sonal life. Xi, likewise, has spoken little era, using these inherited values to about his life and only during the ear- guide the modern economy — thus the ly years of his political career, largely importance of his campaign against in the single-page autobiographical corruption, for example. Xi, moreover, work, written in 1998, quoted above. likens his own rise to personal power Most importantly, Xi Jinping and within the Party to his plans for China Mao Zedong both used their personal to rise in prominence and power on the stories to define the story of China for world stage, ensuring that all its people their times, legitimise their policies, can attain the China dream in the pro- and control political discourse. As seen cess. Like Mao Zedong, if he has to take through the prism of the official narra- a lifetime to achieve these national tive, Mao’s personal struggle for recog- goals, he will. This text is taken from China Story Yearbook 2018: Power, edited by Jane Golley, Linda Jaivin, Paul J. Farrelly and Sharon Strange, published 2019 by ANU Press, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

doi.org/10.22459/CSY.2019.00B