Why is there no biography of Xi Jinping?
Xi Jinping is most similar to present-day China. A Chinese that, as the famous novelist Yan Lianke puts it: The experience of living in it is like living in North Korea and the United States at the same time.
Jeffrey Wasser Strom *, a professor of Chinese and world history at the University of California, San Diego, writes in an article for the Atlantic Journal that there is no reliable biography in English about Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He sees it as a serious challenge to understanding China’s politics today and emphasizes the far-reaching implications. He writes in this regard:
“Life in China today is very confusing,” says Yan Lianke, a well-known novelist. In the current situation, it seems that by living in China, you are simultaneously gaining experience of living in North Korea and the United States. With this sentence, Lianke portrayed the practicality and strangeness of China. A country that carries several opposing characteristics at the same time (for example, it has a closed political structure, but believes in an open economy and capitalism).
Lianke’s remarks also highlight another important issue: Many observers and analysts have always emphasized the difficulty of classifying China in political and economic terms. However, I (Reporter: Jeffrey Wasser Strom) have always tried to address the fact that this confusing situation is basically the same for current Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Some believe that Xi Jinping, who was elected chairman of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 and became its leader the following year, has pushed his country back in some ways. Others, however, take the opposite view, arguing that the Chinese leader has pushed China forward in many ways, including on economic issues.
According to Fararu, in general, one of the reasons for the different views on the Chinese leader is that there is basically a misconception about Xi Jinping’s plans and priorities. This has led some to liken him to the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. On the other hand, his harsh and dry actions, such as a serious confrontation with the opposition or his efforts to stay in power and establish a cult of personality, make him look like a decisive figure like Russian President Vladimir Putin or North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. has done. Since Mao came to power, he has concentrated most of his power in his own hands (in China), and at the same time, some of his practices, such as criticizing certain aspects of Confucian thinking, have made him look like nationalist leaders such as Chiang Kai-shek. ” has done.
We have to admit that the comparisons we make about Xi Jinping are often wrong and incomplete. He is unlike any of China’s previous leaders and bears no resemblance to any other leader in the world. However, what really catches my eye about Xi Jinping is that there is no biography in English that gives us an in-depth and in-depth view of Xi Jinping’s biography.
If you go to a good library and want to find a good biography of Putin or Kim Jong Un or many other world leaders (especially in English), you will not have a hard time, however, if you want to. Find a similar example for Xi Jinping, you will definitely face serious challenges and even be left empty-handed.
Most of the works and works written about Xi Jinping and his biography have been under the supervision of the Chinese government or have covered parts of his brilliant works and deeds. However, it would be very rare for an independent work to cover all aspects of Xi Jinping’s life in English.
To find out why, I (author: Jeffrey Wasser Strom) spoke with a number of researchers and scholars who specifically covered issues related to Xi Jinping. In the meantime, they have pointed out some reasons for the lack of an accurate and comprehensive biography in English about the Chinese leader. For example, they say there is no reliable source who knows both “Xi Jinping” and speaks “honestly” about him. On the other hand, there is very little public access to the Chinese leader.
“Unlike Putin, who is constantly interacting with the media and attending question-and-answer sessions with them,” said Steven Lee Myers, a New York Times writer and analyst who covers China and specifically writes about Putin. “Xi Jinping is by no means on this path.” Some people think that writing about someone like Xi Jinping is far more difficult than writing about someone like Kim Jong Un, because public opinion thinks that logically they should know a lot more about him. While this is not the case.
“There are other issues that can be cited as the reasons for the lack of a proper biography in English about Xi Jinping, for example,” says Joseph Tarijan, a professor of political science at the American University. Before coming to power, he had been very cautious, and on the other hand, paying attention to the issue of people’s biographies in the context of political science has not been very important for a long time. “If a biography is written about the Chinese leader, it is likely that there will be serious challenges and barriers to any future writing about the Chinese leader, and this in itself will lead to many challenges in the future.”
Without a doubt, writing a biography about Xi Jinping will be very interesting. During his reign, China’s economic and military power increased significantly. Xi Jinping has taken a firm and tough approach to issues such as Hong Kong, the Uyghurs, as well as China’s internal freedoms. As one of China’s most powerful leaders, Xi Jinping has both leaked little information and there are many concerns about leaking information about him. Something that has created a special situation for him.
However, the lack of credible English-language biographies of Xi Jinping also has certain consequences. In this regard, the countries that interact with China and its current leader are particularly affected. These countries have to spend far more time getting to know Xi Jinping (compared to other Chinese leaders in the past).