The Fort Worth Press - Xi invokes Mao in visit to cradle of Communist revolution

USD -
AED 3.673036
AFN 70.133986
ALL 94.635739
AMD 396.179834
ANG 1.799356
AOA 912.00018
ARS 1023.211301
AUD 1.60591
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.704398
BAM 1.8785
BBD 2.015848
BDT 119.310378
BGN 1.880976
BHD 0.376854
BIF 2952.312347
BMD 1
BND 1.356673
BOB 6.899102
BRL 6.152999
BSD 0.998415
BTN 84.985833
BWP 13.866398
BYN 3.267349
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009028
CAD 1.44112
CDF 2870.000008
CHF 0.89879
CLF 0.03583
CLP 988.670453
CNY 7.298199
CNH 7.302625
COP 4395.5
CRC 506.939442
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 105.90693
CZK 24.110271
DJF 177.719942
DKK 7.15758
DOP 60.817365
DZD 135.098778
EGP 50.777101
ERN 15
ETB 127.121932
EUR 0.95944
FJD 2.31865
FKP 0.791982
GBP 0.79813
GEL 2.810232
GGP 0.791982
GHS 14.676079
GIP 0.791982
GMD 72.000216
GNF 8628.919944
GTQ 7.690535
GYD 208.884407
HKD 7.76773
HNL 25.367142
HRK 7.172906
HTG 130.547952
HUF 394.4435
IDR 16206.75
ILS 3.661225
IMP 0.791982
INR 85.28655
IQD 1307.880709
IRR 42087.503338
ISK 139.210017
JEP 0.791982
JMD 155.558757
JOD 0.7093
JPY 157.918503
KES 129.039915
KGS 86.999851
KHR 4012.870384
KMF 466.124982
KPW 899.999441
KRW 1468.73504
KWD 0.308179
KYD 0.832061
KZT 517.226144
LAK 21834.509917
LBP 89407.001873
LKR 294.251549
LRD 181.712529
LSL 18.564664
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.901311
MAD 10.068386
MDL 18.420977
MGA 4709.215771
MKD 59.117726
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.99987
MOP 7.98713
MRU 39.855929
MUR 47.070357
MVR 15.397745
MWK 1731.258704
MXN 20.19759
MYR 4.468993
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.564664
NGN 1542.079645
NIO 36.738222
NOK 11.372235
NPR 135.977525
NZD 1.775525
OMR 0.384666
PAB 0.998415
PEN 3.717812
PGK 4.05225
PHP 58.017023
PKR 277.955434
PLN 4.088415
PYG 7786.582145
QAR 3.631177
RON 4.776297
RSD 112.419287
RUB 99.757745
RWF 1392.786822
SAR 3.754403
SBD 8.383555
SCR 14.257023
SDG 601.505167
SEK 11.042925
SGD 1.35857
SHP 0.791982
SLE 22.802635
SLL 20969.503029
SOS 570.619027
SRD 35.057989
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.736493
SYP 2512.530243
SZL 18.572732
THB 34.101033
TJS 10.922538
TMT 3.51
TND 3.183499
TOP 2.3421
TRY 35.157299
TTD 6.784805
TWD 32.775497
TZS 2421.168977
UAH 41.863132
UGX 3654.612688
UYU 44.441243
UZS 12889.593238
VES 51.57505
VND 25435
VUV 118.722003
WST 2.762788
XAF 630.031215
XAG 0.033654
XAU 0.00038
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.7655
XOF 630.031215
XPF 114.546415
YER 250.37501
ZAR 18.881303
ZMK 9001.20115
ZMW 27.630985
ZWL 321.999592
  • RIO

    -0.0650

    59.135

    -0.11%

  • CMSC

    -0.1150

    23.655

    -0.49%

  • RBGPF

    -0.7000

    59.8

    -1.17%

  • BTI

    0.2000

    36.46

    +0.55%

  • SCS

    0.1300

    11.86

    +1.1%

  • RYCEF

    0.0000

    7.25

    0%

  • NGG

    -0.0300

    58.83

    -0.05%

  • RELX

    -0.0100

    45.88

    -0.02%

  • BP

    0.0330

    28.823

    +0.11%

  • BCE

    -0.0750

    22.825

    -0.33%

  • VOD

    -0.0050

    8.425

    -0.06%

  • CMSD

    -0.1900

    23.46

    -0.81%

  • BCC

    -0.2540

    122.936

    -0.21%

  • AZN

    0.2200

    66.52

    +0.33%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    12.17

    +0.16%

  • GSK

    0.0150

    34.045

    +0.04%

Xi invokes Mao in visit to cradle of Communist revolution
Xi invokes Mao in visit to cradle of Communist revolution / Photo: © AFP/File

Xi invokes Mao in visit to cradle of Communist revolution

Dressed in matching navy windbreakers and flanking President Xi Jinping, China's freshly appointed top leadership this week made their first group outing to the Communist Party's "holy land".

Text size:

Xi's choice to visit Yan'an -- a site inextricably linked with Communist China's founder Mao Zedong -- was an important, deliberate indication of the themes of his next five years at the helm, analysts said.

Xi has centralised and personalised power more than any Chinese leader since Mao, culminating in his being anointed with a historic third term following last weekend's Communist Party (CCP) Congress.

The new Politburo Standing Committee he shepherded around the popular "Red tourism" destination on Thursday consists solely of his loyal allies.

"The signal with the visit to Yan'an is one of celebrating a parallel (with Mao) and brooking no opposition," wrote Manoj Kewalramani from the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru, India.

A 16-minute news segment about the visit on state broadcaster CCTV showed several portraits of Mao, and a report by the official Xinhua news agency mentioned the former leader's name 14 times.

The itinerary included visits to Mao's former residence, as well as a hall where a pivotal CCP meeting in 1945 confirmed him as chairman, apparently showcasing Xi's deep interest in party history and its influence on his rhetoric and policies.

But it also harked back to an era when the CCP relied on mass "struggle" to win a bloody civil war, which observers believe has parallels with how Beijing views the current geopolitical climate.

"Among the signals Xi appears to be sending... is prepare for difficult times ahead, and prepare for struggle," analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his Sinocism newsletter.

Xi took the 2012 standing committee to an exhibition about national rejuvenation in Beijing, and the 2017 one to the site of the first CCP Congress in Shanghai.

"The first travels after each Party Congress seems to be about 'remember the original mission'," tweeted the Australian National University's Wen-Ti Sung.

According to state media, Xi on Thursday vowed that his new standing committee would "inherit and carry forward the fine revolutionary traditions formed by the party during the Yan'an period".

- Cradle of the revolution -

Yan'an is revered in Communist Party lore as the cradle of the movement.

Nestled in the remote, arid mountains of northwest China, it was where party members hunkered down after the Long March, a gruelling year-long expedition by foot across the country to escape encirclement by Nationalist troops during the Chinese Civil War.

Tens of thousands died en route, and by the time the survivors arrived in Yan'an, they were a severely weakened force.

Mao and his allies, including Xi's father, lived alongside local peasants in caves as they planned military campaigns.

The CCP's eventual victory over the Nationalists saw the Yan'an period codified as a shining example of the Party's ability to overcome adversity.

Yan'an is also firmly linked to Mao and his consolidation of power.

More than 10,000 people, including intellectuals and artists, were killed during the Yan'an Rectification -- a mass campaign of brainwashing and purges that established Mao as the undisputed leader.

But on Thursday, Xi said that "through the Yan'an Rectification Movement, the whole Party united under the banner of Mao Zedong and achieved unprecedented unity", according to CCTV.

"A firm and correct political orientation is the essence of the Yan'an Spirit."

One of the hallmarks of Xi's tenure has been a focus on intra-party discipline, most obviously through a long-running anti-corruption campaign.

Critics say that drive is a thinly veiled political tool that has eliminated many of his rivals.

- Historical legitimacy -

Xi tends to think of himself as an "heir of the revolution", according to sinologist Alfred L. Chan.

In speeches, he has sought to draw a direct line between the past and present, using history as a source of legitimacy for both the party and himself.

On Thursday, for example, he referred to his personal connections to Yan'an.

During the height of the Cultural Revolution, 15-year-old Xi was sent to the village of Liangjiahe, where he also slept in caves and was shocked at the harshness of manual labour.

He often cites this period as a formative life experience that gave him grit and determination, as well as an insight into the lives of ordinary working-class Chinese.

And it is another way in which Xi attempts to mould his public persona and life story in the vein of Mao, analysts say.

"Xi wants to go back to the orthodoxy of communism in China like Mao," said Alfred Wu, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore.

P.Navarro--TFWP