Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and leader of China since 2012, was born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing. He was born to Xi Zhongxun, a high-ranking CCP politician, and his second wife Qi Xin.
Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and leader of China since 2012, was born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing. He was born to Xi Zhongxun, a high-ranking CCP politician, and his second wife Qi Xin.
Xi Jinping was born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing. [1] He was third child of Xi Zhongxun and his second wife Qi Xin. After the founding of the PRC in 1949, Zhongxun held a series of posts, including the chief of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, vice premier, and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. [2] Xi has two older sisters, Qi Qiaoqiao (齐桥桥), born in 1949 and Qi An'an (齐安安), born in 1952. [3] Zhongxun was from Fuping County, Shaanxi. [4]
Xi's childhood name, a common practice in China, was Xiangjin. [5] Xi, along with Qiaoqiao, An'an and Yuanping all went to Beijing Bayi School, where students were primarily the children of high-ranking military officials. [6] [7] In 1963, when Xi was ten years old, his father was purged from the CCP and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. [8] In May 1966, the Cultural Revolution cut short Xi's secondary education when all secondary classes were halted for students to criticise and fight their teachers. Student militants ransacked the Xi family home. [9] [10] Xi associated and became the "little king" of a group of boys near the school whose parents were targeted during the Cultural Revolution. [11] The Beijing Bayi School was assaulted on 25 January 1967, and later closed shortly after, leading Xi to be transferred to the Beijing No. 25 School. [12] Due to his family, Xi was considered to be among the "blackest" students in the class. Xi was also persecuted at the Marx School of Communism, where his mom Qi was employed, including his mom denouncing him; he later said that he was "dragged out" for persecution by Cao Yi'ou, wife of Kang Sheng, due to being a "family member of a ‘black gang.’" [13]
His mother was forced to publicly denounce his father, as he was paraded before a crowd as an enemy of the revolution. His father was later imprisoned in 1968 when Xi was aged 15. In 1968, Xi submitted an application to the Bayi School's Reform Committee and insisted on leaving Beijing for the countryside. [14] On 13 January 1969, they left Beijing and arrived in Liangjiahe Village, Yan'an, Shaanxi, on 23 January alongside CCP Chairman Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement. [15] The rural areas of Yan'an were very backward, [16] which created a big gap for Xi as a teenager. He once recalled that he had to overcome "five hurdles" (flea, food, life, labor and thought hurdle), [17] and the experience led him to feel affinity with the rural poor. [16] He also admitted he refused to work and did not get along well with the peasants. [18] After a few months, unable to stand rural life, he ran away to Beijing. He was arrested for four to five months during a crackdown on deserters from the countryside and sent to a work camp to dig ditches. He later returned to the village, under the persuasion of his aunt Qi Yun and uncle Wei Zhenwu. [19] He then spent a total of seven years in Liangjiahe, where he lived in a cave house. [20] [21] [22] In Liangjiahe, Xi suffered mistreatment due to his father's status. He needed to apply for eight times before joining the Communist Youth League, and a local party leader was criticized for even attempting to support Xi's bid due to his father's status. [23] Also during the Cultural Revolution, Xi's sister Heping hanged herself at her military academy. Xi learned about her death while digging an air-raid shelter in preparation for a possible Soviet attack, and stepped away so that no one would see him cry. [24]
In 1973, Yanchuan County assigned Xi Jinping to Zhaojiahe Village in Jiajianping Commune to lead social education efforts. [25] Due to his effective work and strong rapport with the villagers, the community expressed a desire to keep him there. However, after Liangjiahe Village advocated for his return, Xi went back in July that same year. Liang Yuming (梁玉明) and Liang Youhua (梁有华), the village branch secretaries, supported his application to the Chinese Communist Party. [26] Yet, due to his father, Xi Zhongxun, still facing political persecution, the application was initially blocked by higher authorities. [27] The commune secretary opposed his party membership, and criticized the person supporting Xi's application as allowing a "‘son of a black gang’ into the party". [23] Despite submitting ten applications, it wasn't until the new commune secretary, Bai Guangxing (白光兴), recognized Xi's capabilities that his application was forwarded to the CCP Yanchuan County Committee and approved in early 1974. [28] Around that time, as Liangjiahe village underwent leadership changes, Xi was recommended to become the Party branch chairman of the Liangjiahe Brigade. [29] [30]
After taking office, Xi noted that Mianyang, Sichuan was using biogas technology and, given the fuel shortages in his village, he traveled to Mianyang to learn about biogas digesters. [31] Upon returning, he successfully implemented the technology in Liangjiahe, marking a breakthrough in Shaanxi that soon spread throughout the region. [32] Additionally, he led efforts to drill wells for water supply, establish iron industry cooperatives, reclaim land, plant flue-cured tobacco, and set up sales outlets to address the village's production and economic challenges. [33] [34] In 1973, Xi applied to Tsinghua University but was rejected due to his father's status. [35] In 1975, when Yanchuan County was allocated only two spot at Tsinghua University, the CCP Yanchuan County Committee recommended Xi for admission; Xi put Tsinghua University as his first, second, and third choices. [36] [35] In the summer of 1975, the leftist radical leaders at the university were distracted and not managing the university's practical affairs, allowing Xi to be accepted by vice dean Liu Bing. [35] In 1975, Xi left Yanchuan to arrive on the campus on 20 October. [35] From 1975 to 1979, Xi studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University as a worker-peasant-soldier student in Beijing. [37] [38] In April 1976, he cautioned his fellow students against participating in protests in Tiananmen Square that commemorated the death of Premier Zhou Enlai out of fear of persecution. He graduated in April 1979. [39]
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