"The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping"

I listened to the podcast The Making of Xi Jinping where the host interviewed Joseph Torigian, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping.

The interview showed the depth and breadth of the author's knowledge about contemporary China. The book sounds fascinating and informative. 

I'd like to point out a few caveats about Western works on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Most Westerners treat the CCP as a normal political party, whose ideology and policies they may criticize. IMHO, this is the wrong starting point for understanding the CCP. The CCP is like a mafia, which may use whatever ideology is seen fit to help it secure power. Yes, they have touted freedom, democracy, and capitalism. They also had a so-called proletarian dictatorship.

The author appears to have another common flaw of Western Sinologists - taking the CCP's version of history at face value. The CCP is a master at rewriting history. Their version of history is often the opposite of the facts. The author mentioned that the KMT betrayed the CCP in the April 12 Purge in 1927 without mentioning that the CCP, controlled by the USSR, behaved like bandits, starting riots everywhere to murder and rob people owning lands. The author's tale about Xi Zhongxun's boss, Liu Zhidan, is a copy from the CCP's history. Liu was a clear threat to Mao because of his reputation and influence in the Yan'an area, his turf that he established through years of fighting. It is entirely possible that Mao managed to send him to the predictably futile Eastern Expedition to get him killed.

Xi Zhongxun, along with Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang, and Wan Li, is among the remarkably open-minded and conscionable CCP leaders. Hu and Zhao were "officially" the party head, and Wan led the congress. All of them were purged or sidelined by Deng, the true party boss, a few years after Mao's death till he died.  Many people, including yours, had high hopes for China when Xi Zhongxun's son, Xi Jinping, was selected to lead the CCP. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a Mao wannabe. 

I call Xi Jinping the middle school dropout because it is important to keep in mind that he has very limited formal education, though he is street-smart, knowing how to purge his opponents and threats ruthlessly. In other words, he is a skilled mafia boss. It is sad to see the US president greeting the middle school dropout at the airstairs with servitude while he was received by a 4th-tier CCP official in Beijing, and US servicemen kneeling to arrange the red carpet for the MSD while his aides looked down on them.