A hagiography is defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as a “biography of saints or venerated persons” or an “idealizing or idolizing biography.” The latest Chinese hagiography is the evolution – and elevation – of Xi Jinping Thought (Xíjìnpíng sīxiǎng; 习近平思想) as the official guiding principle of the Chinese Communist Party and the communist state. As noted here, the core concept of Xi Thought is “Xi’s ‘Chinese dream,’ which is a super-nationalistic narrative about China becoming a superpower.”
From Xi Thought has flowed a seemingly endless stream of his grand initiatives aimed at achieving that dream: the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, and a whole passel of “roads,” including the Silk Road Economic Belt, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the Digital Silk Road, the Arctic Silk Road, the Health Silk Road, and the Space Silk Road. And countless articles in state-run Chinese media have propagandized those initiatives and quoted Xi’s various public statements (Xi Thought) about them over the years.
Whew! What does it all mean, and why the seeming obsession with Xi’s hagiography? Are the Chinese trying to elevate Xi to the communist equivalent of “sainthood” even before he assumes room temperature? Let us examine the topic.
THE CENTRAL PARTY LITERATURE OFFICE
In 1950, the CCP established the Committee on the Publication of Mao’s Selected Works to compile CCP-approved histories, chronologies, biographies, and the collected works of Mao Zedong. The Commission went through two name changes before becoming the Central Party Literature Office (Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi; 中央文献研究室) in 1980. Its mission was expanded to include collecting similar Party-approved materials for other Chinese leaders. The expostulations of Chinese leaders, as compiled and “made available” by the CPLO, have invariably been “praised in the state media as ‘great, brilliant and monumental’ contributions to official dogma as well as guiding principles for the [CCP’s] future,” as noted by the Jamestown Foundation.
In 2018, the CPLO was merged with the Central Party History Office (Zhōngyāng dǎng shǐ yánjiū shì; 中央党史研究室) and the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau (Zhōngyāng biānyì jú; 中央编译局) in 2018, to form the Central Institute for Party History and Literature (CIPHL, 中央党史与文献研究院), as described here. The original mission of the CPLO continues within CIPHL.
The CIPHL’s public façade is its mission to study of the history and theory of the Chinese Communist Party. The reality is more complex. Its real purpose is “to define, maintain, regulate and adjust the parameter of the ‘correct’ ideological line determined by the party leadership” at a given moment in time. Thus, the CIPHL is a functional cog in the CCP’s ongoing information warfare campaign aimed at both foreign and domestic audiences. Whatever is produced and propagated by the CIPHL is consistent with the CCP’s official narratives of the moment, and most particularly with Xi Thought.
XI THOUGHT EVOLVES
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made public pronouncements on hundreds if not thousands of topics since he assumed power in 2013 to further define and evolve Xi Thought, as well as to incorporate Chinese cultural and historical references to bolster acceptance. Examples are legion: socialism with Chinese characteristics, “searching high and low” (People’s Daily), closer trade cooperation, more open world economy, a friend of Chinese youth, uniting global ethnic Chinese, battling poverty, upholding fundamental (Marxist) principles, “clearing the cage for two birds” and “cracking hard nuts” (Xinhua), whole process democracy, global community of shared future, etc.
As Xi Thought “matures” on topics through his continued public statements that include new definitions and details, compilations are published in book form by the CIPHL with translations into other languages for foreign consumption and information warfare purposes.
THE BOOKS OF XI JINPING
Xi Jinping’s megalomania apparently extends to a personal goal of being the most-published Chinese communist leader ever, transcending both Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping in that regard. It took his first five-year term to compile sufficient material to be published in book form, but the CIPHL production line has been working hard to make up for lost time. Here is a list of Xi Jinping’s published works in 2023 alone:
Discourses on Chinese modernization (6 November). CCTV provides this gobbledygook description: “Xi's important discourses centering on Chinese modernization contributed to the formation of a theoretical system in this regard, and are of great significance to fully building China into a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation through a Chinese path to modernization.” “Theoretical” is a code word for Marxist compliance.
Discourses on community level governance (23 October). CCTV’s description: “Xi's discourses in this regard are of great significance to improving the Party organization-led urban and rural community governance model which combines self-governance, the rule of law and the rule of virtue.” The reality is that self-governance means freedom to vote for CCP candidates and conform to CCP policies while the CCP’s “rule of virtue” including torture, long-term confinement, and rigged trials.
Discourses on the Belt and Road Initiative (17 October). CCTV’s description: the book details “how the BRI has been proposed, enriched, and developed” and “elaborates on the BRI's principles, connotations, and objectives.” No mention of debt traps and the application of geopolitical pressure.
Xi thought on the rule of law (31 July). The description from Xinhua: The book expounds on “significance, scientific system, essence and implications, as well as the requirements for practice” of the rule of law with Chinese characteristics. Short title: obey the CCP in all things.
Discourses on the management of water resources (18 July). CGTN describes its contents: “Xi's remarks chart the course and serve as fundamental guidance for the work on the management of water resources in the new era.” The book was compiled by the Ministry of Water Resources. Apparently, Xi is an expert on issues large and small and wants people to know that.
Discourses on work for women, children (12 June). Xinhua’s description: The book “[promotes]the work for women's development in the new era, staying committed to the fundamental national policy of gender equality, and protecting lawful rights and interests of women and children.” How many women are in the Politburo Standing Committee and other top levels of the communist government?
Discourses on sci-tech self-reliance (29 May). The description from China.org: The book “expounded the strategic objectives, key tasks, major measures and basic requirements for promoting China's sci-tech innovation” and “for turning China into a sci-tech powerhouse.” No mention is made of IP theft and economic espionage.
Discourses on rural work (17 April). Xinhua describes the book: The book is “a guide to action and the fundamental guidance for rural work” that is intended to “speed up rural and agricultural modernization.” This topic is a communist staple from the days of Mao onward. Will “agrarian reform” ever be completed under the CCP’s “guidance”?
Discourses on food security (27 March). According to Xinhua, the book provides Xi Thought on “advancing rural revitalization across the board, building China into an agricultural powerhouse, comprehensively consolidating the foundations of food security, and ensuring that China's food supply remains firmly in its own hands.” China remains the world’s largest importer of food stuffs and has not been able to feed its people since the communists took over in 1949.
There are also earlier Xi books on specific topics:
Running the country by the people
The importance of the family, family education, and virtues
Respecting and protecting human rights
History of the CCP
Diplomacy
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Xi Thought is captured in compilations of excerpts from his public speeches on various topics over since 2013. He has also written several “real books.” Theory China is an official website maintained by the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute. The website contains key published works by CCP-approved senior Chinese leaders from Mao through Xi. There are two previously published books by Xi Jinping listed: Xi Jinping Coordinating the Covid-19 Response with Economic and Social Development (December 2020) and On Building a Human Community with a Shared Future (March 2019).
The four volumes of “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” apparently have not made the grade with Theory China as a “seminal work” comparable to the published works linked there from Mao, Deng Xiaoping, and others. Perhaps they need more seasoning.
The juggernaut that is Xi’s hagiography marches on. Will anyone actually read these? Count me out.
The end.