Xi Jinping's father is the subject of an exciting new historical drama that premiered on Chinese state television on Tuesday.
Funded by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), “Time in the Northwest” is a film about Chinese President Xi Zhongxun, whose father, Xi Zhongxun, is himself a senior member of the Communist Party, and which focuses on important information about the party during the era of Chairman Mao Zedong. It records the life of Mr. Xi Zhongxun, who was also a great figure.
The show has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on heavily censored Chinese social media platforms and is the latest in a series of popular productions focused on glorifying the Chinese Communist Party's military history. be. But unlike other popular TV shows and movies, “Northwest Time” also glorifies Xi Jinping's personal family history.
Over 39 episodes, the show dramatizes Xi's life from a rural peasant family in Shaanxi province to the leader of the Communist Party revolution in northwestern China. According to an article posted by state broadcaster CCTV to promote the show, the biopic is “the first epic masterpiece to present a panoramic view of the grand history of the northwest revolution,” and is particularly focused on Xi's “extraordinary experience.” It is said that the focus is on .
The drama takes place against the backdrop of China's civil war, where communists and the Kuomintang (Kuomintang) fought for control of the country after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty. Mr. Xi is portrayed as a loyal and determined revolutionary who helped build the Chinese Communist Party's main strongholds in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
Mr. Xi's enthusiasm as a young man propelled him to the highest ranks of China's Communist Party elite. After the Communist Party's victory in the civil war, he became Director of Party Propaganda and Vice Premier of China. his red That qualification has been passed on to his son, Xi Jinping, who is often referred to as the “prince” of the ruling party.
However, President Xi also sensed the party's roughness. The series reportedly ended in 1952, a year before Xi Jinping's birth and 10 years before Zhongxun was purged for supporting a novel that was seen as a covert attempt to rewrite party history. It is being In the 1960s and 1970s, Mr. Xi He spent 16 years in purgatory, an experience that is believed to have had a deep impact on the young Mr. Xi's relationship with the party. Mr. Xi was rehabilitated after the end of the Cultural Revolution and continued to assume the leadership position.
Xi Jinping is said to be China's most powerful leader since Chairman Mao. Since taking office in 2012, the issue of managing the party's history has become a major concern. In an early speech, he said the collapse of the Soviet Union was caused by “historical nihilism” and that it must be a “cautious narrative.”
“Northwest Time” avoids historical nihilism by avoiding the most traumatic period in President Xi's life. However, the biopic still has some difficult moments.
The first episode, which aired on Tuesday night, depicts Xi falling out with a school administrator named Weihai. In real life, Mr. Xi was imprisoned for his role in the Wei assassination plot, according to a forthcoming biography of Xi Zhongxun by Joseph Trijiang, a researcher at the Hoover Institute of History at Stanford University. The dramatized version minimizes Mr. Xi's role in the attempted murder.
“The treatment of cultural products has always been a barometer of party politics,” Trijan said, noting that Xi himself was purged for supporting a novel that was seen as a covert attempt to rewrite the party's history. . “The history of the party and the way it is expressed has always been a minefield.”
These days, Xi Jinping seems concerned that young people are losing the enthusiasm of his generation and his father's. In an article published last year in the Communist Party's official newspaper People's Daily, he urged young people to “listen and obey the party without hesitation” and “be willing to endure hardship and work diligently.” He called on them to become human resources.
This kind of rhetoric is at odds with recent buzzwords that are popular among young people, such as: tamping, or “lying down” reflects a desire to quit the rat race for a more passive lifestyle. Neijuan, Or “degenerate” reflects despair over a feeling of overwork.
“Part of the idea of Mr. Xi's model is that the current generation needs to pick up the baton from the older generation,” Trijan said. “One concrete way to do that is to show how Xi Jinping inherited the baton from his father.”
Additional research by Chi-hui Lin
