The Making of Xi Jinping

About this episode

During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communist Party purged Xi Jinping’s father and subjected him to 16 years of persecution and imprisonment—so how did the current president of China emerge more devoted to the party than ever? “It’s like a comic book villain origin story,” says Aaron MacLean. Today, 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, joins School of War to explore the strange and dark story of China’s current president, the brutality of Mao’s China, and how it all shaped the power dynamics in Beijing today. 03:24 – The Xi Family and Communist Loyalty 08:14 – Why Xi Jinping Never Abandoned the Party 10:05 – China's Revolutionary Origins 13:23 – The Books That Shaped Xi Jinping 18:34 – Why China Embraced Communism 22:13 – Xi Zhongxun's Rise and Near-Execution 29:21 – Mao's Loyalty Test 35:30 – The Great Leap Forward and Famine 45:14 – Xi Jinping's Brutal Childhood 47:38 – His Father's 16 Years of Persecution 52:11 – Mao and the Cultural Revolution 59:17 – The Xi Family's Tragedy This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven