The descendants of those who fought with Mao will help choose the country’s next ruler
China’s propaganda chiefs are eager to show that Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, belongs to the red aristocracy. They pump out books and documentaries about his late father, Xi Zhongxun (pictured, left), who was a comrade-in-arms of Mao Zedong. Once a year, when state television shows Mr Xi delivering new year’s greetings from what purports to be his desk, his father’s picture is clearly visible on a bookshelf behind him. The message is clear: Mr Xi’s bloodline is impeccable.
When Mr Xi came to power in 2012, many observers described it as a symbol of the rise of “princelings”, a term often applied to descendants of the most senior revolutionaries who fought with Mao, as well as the offspring (and their spouses) of those who served as senior officials in Beijing after the Communists came to power in 1949. Mr Xi became one of four members of the party’s most powerful body, the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, who could be described as princelings. Never had it been so stacked with them.