How Xi Jinping’s China differs from Mao’s
A crackdown on superstition is about control, not smashing tradition
FOR SEVERAL big reasons it is misleading, even morally indecent, when commentators assert that China is embarking on a new Cultural Revolution. It is true that the Communist Party is today more visible and assertive than at any time since Mao Zedong’s death in 1976. After Xi Jinping became China’s leader in 2012, he unblushingly re-emphasised the party’s authority over everything from the machinery of state and the armed forces to the judiciary, universities and news media.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “How Xi’s China differs from Mao’s”
From the October 16th 2021 edition
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