Xi Jinping.

Political Career,
Governance, and Leadership,
1953-2018 1st Edition Alfred L. Chan
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Xi Jinping
 Xi Jinping
Political Career, Governance, and Leadership, 1953–
2018
ALFRED L. CHAN
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Chan, Alfred L., author.
Title: Xi Jinping : political career, governance, and leadership, 1953–2018 / Alfred L. Chan.
Other titles: Political career, governance, and leadership, 1953–2018
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021056518 (print) | LCCN 2021056519 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780197615225 (hardback) | ISBN 9780197615249 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Xi, Jinping. | Presidents—China—Biography. |
Heads of state—China—Biography. | China—Politics and government—2002– |
China—Politics and government—20th century.
Classification: LCC DS779.49.X53 C43 2022 (print) |
LCC DS779.49.X53 (ebook) | DDC 951.06/12092 [B]—dc23/eng/20220103
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056518
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056519

DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197615225.001.0001
For Michael
 Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1.Introduction

PART I: XI JINPING’S PATH TO THE TOP

2.Childhood and Youth: Privilege and Trauma, 1953–1979
3.Early Career: Central Military Commission, 1979–1982, and
Zhengding County, 1983–1985
4.Seventeen Years in Fujian: Governance and a New Political
Economy, 1985–2002
5.The Sixteenth Party Congress, 2002, and Governing Zhejiang,
2002–2007
6.The Shanghai Interlude and Political Succession at the
Seventeenth Party Congress, October 2007
7.The Trials of the Heir Apparent and Crisis Management, 2007–
2012
8.The Eighteenth Party Congress, November 2012, and
Succession Politics

PART II: XI JINPING’S FIRST TERM AS GENERAL SECRETARY:

GOVERNANCE AND REFORM IN TURBULENT TIMES, 2012–2017
9.Consolidation of Power, Image-Building, and Disciplining the
Party State and Society
10.Economic Revival, Social Development, and the Search for a New
Development Model
11.Modernizing the Military and Recalibrating Foreign Relations
12.Power, Policy, and Political Succession: The Nineteenth Party
Congress, October 2017
13.The Thirteenth National People’s Congress, March 2018, and
Administrative Reform
14.Conclusion

Notes
Glossary
References
Index
Figure 0.1 China’s provincial administrations and neighboring countries
 Illustrations

Figures
0.1.China’s provincial administrations and neighboring
countries
2.1.The Xi family in happier times, Beijing, 1960
2.2.Xi Jinping's cave dwelling, recent photo
2.3.Revisiting Beijing in 1972
2.4.Xi Jinping bidding farewell to Liangjiahe villagers in
1975
3.1.As secretary to Minister of Defense Geng Biao
3.2.Receiving the public on a makeshift table at
Zhengding, 1983
4.1.Xiamen in 2014
4.2.Leading Ningde officials to clear water canals, 1989
5.1.Fashion accessories produced in Yiwu on sale, 2011
5.2.Recycling imported electronic waste in Zhejiang,
2006
7.1.Tower, International Bazaar and Mosque, Urumqi,
2017
9.1.Structure of the Chinese Communist Party and the
People’s Republic of China, as of March 2018
9.2.Official caricatures of China’s leaders
9.3.Two shelves of books on clean governance and
corruption in a Beijing bookstore
11.1.PLA structure prior to reforms
11.2.PLA structure after reforms
11.3.Hong Kong Protest, January 2020
11.4.With Michelle and Barack Obama and Peng Liyuan
at the White House, September 2015
11.5.The nine-dash lines and China’s claims in the
South China Sea
11.6.The Belt and Road Initiative
13.1.Organizations for stability maintenance (Weiwen)
in China

Tables
6.1.The Political Careers of Tuanpai Leaders Hu Jintao,
Li Keqiang, and Wang Yang in Comparison with That of
Xi Jinping
6.2.The Political Career of Bo Xilai
7.1.Membership in the Chinese Communist Party, by
Occupation, Gender, and Education, 2010, 2013, and
2018
8.1.Politburo Members, Thirteenth through Nineteenth
Party Congresses
8.2.Official Breakdown of the Characteristics of the
Delegates to the Eighteenth Party Congress
8.3.Nomination and Election of the Eighteenth Central
Committee and CCDI Members
8.4.Members of the Eighteenth Politburo, Its Standing
Committee, and the Secretariat
8.5.Institutional Representation in the Eighteenth
Politburo
8.6.The Political Careers of Sun Zhengcai and Hu
Chunhua
9.1.The Political Career of Wang Qishan
9.2.The Central Committee’s Leading and Coordinating
Small Groups under Xi Jinping
9.3.State Council Leading Small Groups Headed by
Premier Li Keqiang
9.4.Politburo Study Sessions during Xi Jinping’s First
and Second Terms as General Secretary
9.5.Leadership of the Central National Security
Commission
9.6.Policy Agendas and Themes at Central Committee
Plenums of the Eighteenth Party Congress
9.7.Xi Jinping’s Visits to Old Revolutionary Areas
9.8.The Political Career of Ling Jihua
9.9.Numbers of Party Officials Punished during the
Mass Line Education and Practice Campaign
9.10.Numbers of Officials and Party Members
Convicted during the Anticorruption Campaign, 2013–
2017
11.1.Xi Jinping’s Major Foreign Visits
12.1.Drafting Process of the Nineteenth Party Congress
Report in 2017
12.2.Nomination and Election of the Nineteenth Central
Committee and CCDI Members
12.3.Nomination and Election of the Nineteenth
Politburo and Its Standing Committee
12.4.Brief Account of the Political Careers of PBSC
Members, Nineteenth Party Congress
12.5.Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee
Members of the Nineteenth Party Congress and Their
Major Party and Government Responsibilities
12.6.Political Careers of Three Ousted Politburo
Members
12.7.Political Careers of Selected Politburo Members
12.8.Members of the Secretariat and Their Concurrent
Positions
12.9.Composition of the Central Military Commission,
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Central Committees
13.1.Developmental Process for the Revision of the
State Constitution
13.2.State Positions, Thirteenth National People’s
Congress, March 2018
13.3.Developmental Process for the March 2018
Decision to Launch Sweeping Structural Reform
13.4.Officers of the Six New Central Commissions
 Acknowledgments

I take great pleasure in expressing here my gratitude to friends,

family members, and colleagues who have, in so many ways,
sustained my long journey of research and writing over the years.
Amoy Ong, Tony Ma, Roxanna Chan, Lily and Albert Choi, Ivy and
Charles Cheung, and Janice and Philip Yeung, in many stimulating
discussions, shared with me their firsthand insights about working in
China.
Friends Karen McMillan, Patricia Chartier, Fred Berenbaum, Kelly
Pykerman (RIP), Esther Bogyo, Lesley Towers, Anna Marie Read, and
Patrick O’Neill (RIP) have always been supportive with food and
visits, and I thank Charnie Guettel for drawing my attention to the
literature on settler colonialism.
I appreciate the long-standing friendship of Ralph Lai, Daniel
Dragon, Roland Hoy, Lee Goossens, Eric Tang, James Miller, Billy
Newman, Jim Currie, Brian Avery, Michael Ong, Gerald McShane,
Judy McKenna, Yakov Lerner, Gilles LeBlanc, J. Kevin Kelliher, and
Jack Evans, who have sustained me through dinners and
discussions. Gillian Roberts, Ethan Kohn, and their sons Hank and Eli
were always pleasant company, and treated me to many dim sum
lunches. I relish the fond memories of dear friends the late Yee Nar
Lee and Nancy Ing.
I have benefited by the support and good counsel of Gigi and
Roland Tong, and thank Zach Child for his assistance at the early
stages of research.
I am eternally grateful for the support of my globalized, extended
Chan family, for Aunt Tatiana and Kay Chan for enlightening me
about China, and for Aunt Helena and my late uncle Desmond Yam
and their special appreciation for years of good cheers—Aunt Helena
was always there for me, especially when I felt discouraged.
My brothers Davis, Sammy, Ming and their families, and especially
Andrew Chan, have been a constant source of encouragement and
support. I know that a smile from my mother, who is battling
Alzheimer’s, is a sign of her confidence in me.
I owe a debt of gratitude to Molly and Jason of the Kato family for
their love and companionship, and cherish the loving memory of
Billy, Josie, and Joey.
To the members of the Farewell family, John, Mary Rose, Elgin,
and especially Julianne, for their thoughtfulness and camaraderie, I’d
like to send a big thank you. I relish the affection and support of the
late Rose and Harley (Al) Farewell.
The Asian Institute at the Munk Centre on Global Affairs at the
University of Toronto provided a stimulating home base for my
research and the university library was unceasingly efficient in
securing materials for me through interlibrary loans.
I have benefited by numerous discussions with Shu-yun Ma,
Margaret Ting, Kam-wing Chan, Joyce Liu, Joan Huang, Kai Yuen
Tsui, Ralph Thaxton, and Charles Burton about everything Chinese.
Huron University College colleagues Dianqing Xu, Paul Nesbitt-
Larking, Neil Bradford, Jim Crimmins, and Jennifer Mustapha have
always been intellectually stimulating, and Jun Fang generously
shared his expertise on China and Zhejiang.
I am grateful to Huron University College for granting a two-year
leave of absence, and to my students there for their intellectual
curiosity, dynamism, and interest in China and politics. I thank the
Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a
grant to study the Hu Jintao leadership, although the substance of
the project shifted when my research interest moved to this current
volume.
Michael Szonyi took time out from his busy schedule to read the
manuscript and offer much-needed advice.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to two reviewers for their
detailed and valuable comments, which have sharpened my thinking
and saved me from embarrassing errors. At Oxford University Press,
Holly Mitchell and Katharine Pratt have been patient with my
numerous enquries. I thank David McBride for his great help
shepherding the project from start to finish, Richard Isomaki for
expert copy editing, and Newgen Knowledge Network for an efficient
production process.
Of particular importance is my good friend Donald Hickerson, who
edited the entire manuscript with patience and care, and to whom I
express my deep appreciation.
Last but not least, I am grateful to my best friend and partner
Michael Farewell for going through many drafts of the book, for
tolerating my constant thinking out aloud, and for sharing his
encyclopedic knowledge of history and current events. Without his
unwavering support and encouragement, this work would not have
been possible. This book is dedicated to him.
Needless to say, I alone am responsible for any or all errors in
facts or interpretation in this volume.
 Abbreviations

ACC anticorruption campaign

ADIZ Air Defense Identification Zone
AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BRI Belt and Road Initiative
CAC Cyberspace Administration of China
CAG Chinese Academy of Governance
CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
CBIRC China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission
CBRC China Banking Regulatory Commission
CIRC China Insurance Regulatory Commission
CC Central Committee
CCCSM Central Committee for Comprehensive Social Management
CCDI Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CDI Committee for Discipline Inspection
CDRLSG Comprehensively Deepening Reform Leading Small Group
CEE Central and Eastern Europe
CFAC Central Foreign Affairs Commission
CIRC China Insurance Regulatory Commission
CMC Central Military Commission
CNSC Central National Security Commission
COD Central Organization Department
CPC County Party Committee
CPLAC Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission
CPPCC Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
CPS Central Party School
CSRC China Securities Regulatory Commission
CYL Chinese Communist Youth League
CYLC Chinese Communist Youth League Central
DPP Democratic Progressive Party
FYP Five-Year Plan
IMF International Monetary Fund
ISG innovation in social governance
ISM innovation in social management
KMT Kuomintang
LSG leading small group
MARA Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs
MEE Ministry of Ecological Environment
MEM Ministry of Emergency Management
MEP Ministry of Environment Protection
MIC Made in China 2025
MLEP mass line education practice campaign
MPC Municipal Party Committee
MPPC Municipal People’s Committee
NAC National Audit Commission
NDB New Development Bank
NDRC National Development and Reform Commission
NPC National Party Congress
NPeC National People’s Congress
NSC National Security Commission
NSuC National Supervisory Commission
OPTC “one party, two coalitions”
PAP People’s Armed Police
PBOC People’s Bank of China
PBSC Politburo Standing Committee
PD Publicity Department
PFTZ Pilot Free Trade Zone
PLA People’s Liberation Army
PPC Provincial Party Committee
PRC People’s Republic of China
R2G Red Second Generation
RMRB Renmin ribao (People’s Daily)
SAPRET State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television
SASAC State-Owned Assets Supervisory and Administration Commission
SCS South China Sea
SCIO State Council Information Office
SCMP South China Morning Post
SLOC sea lanes of communication
SME small and medium enterprise
SMRA State Market Regulatory Administration
SOE state-owned enterprise
THAAD Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
UFWD United Front Work Department
VASC village affairs supervisory committee
WMP wealth management product
WTO World Trade Organization
 1
Introduction

Few contemporary world leaders can boast of such rich, contrasting,

and dramatic life experiences as those accumulated by China’s
paternalistic and authoritarian leader Xi Jinping. Now one of the
most influential players on the global stage, Xi is attempting to
remake the Chinese political economy, and this is already having a
tremendous impact on one-fifth of humankind, and increasingly on
the rest of the world. However, Xi’s reputation has been controversial
and seldom neutral. Foreign opinions on him tend to be negative,
and exaggerated discourses have even compared him to Stalin.1
More realistically, Xi’s life history mirrors the trials and tribulations of
the history of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the seismic
changes to China over the past sixty-odd years. This includes the
breakneck pace of change and development in the post-Mao period,
the scope and scale of which find no parallel in human history. As
general secretary, Xi has attempted to introduce reforms amid the
forces unleashed by rapid development and modernization. Beijing
also must contend with a rapidly changing international environment
that features more turbulence and uncertainty. The global economy
has never been that intertwined and interdependent, but insular
tendencies are gaining ground, and a litany of global issues, from
poverty to biodiversity loss, and from pollution to climate change,
have reached a critical point. Yet China’s rise has upset the global
balance of power and raised concerns over the emergence of a
political and economic juggernaut. At home, Xi attempts to foster
more development to catch up with the developed West, and
privileges Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership to ward off the
ever-present forces of instability and disintegration. The governance
of China is a complex matter, and Xi’s rule exhibits both progressive
and regressive features.
Born a princeling to one of the founders of the PRC, Xi’s relatively
privileged childhood promised unrivaled opportunity, but he was
traumatized by the tribulations of the Cultural Revolution (1966–
1976). After the cataclysm, he launched his political career during
the era of reforms, opening, and globalization. He has lived through
both the challenges and the opportunities of rapidly changing times.
Xi’s princeling status has brought him persecution and suffering,
reducing him in turn to a juvenile delinquent, a pauper, and an
ordinary peasant performing hard labor and scratching out a living at
a bare subsistence level. Through sheer iron determination, he
clawed his way back up the political ladder; at times his attempt to
shake off his princeling image prompted him to make unusual career
choices. In little more than three decades, Xi rose from village
branch party secretary to becoming in 2007 heir apparent to the
national leadership and then succeeding as general secretary of the
CCP in 2012. In between, he governed poverty-stricken hinterlands
as well as larger and relatively prosperous provinces and
municipalities. He began a second term as general secretary in 2017
and as president in 2018, and barring any accidents he seems
determined to stay on for a third five-year term at the 2022–2023
changeover. Some observers suspect that he intends to make
himself leader for life.
Several generations of Chinese lived through the trauma of the
Cultural Revolution, but the so-called fifth generation (often equated
with “lost generation”), of which Xi is a part, suffered
disproportionately since they lost the opportunity for formal
education during their formative years. Eventually, however, like
other leaders of this cohort, Xi ascended step by step up the
administrative ladder; but he alone managed to reach the pinnacle
of power, the office of general secretary.
During his first term (2012/13–2017/18) as China’s paramount
leader, Xi had to face up to the dual challenges of a rising nation
with ever-increasing economic and military capabilities on the one
hand, but with political and systemic vulnerabilities on the other. The
policy environment confronting China was becoming increasingly
complex and unpredictable, and, as Xi repeatedly asserted, reforms
had reached an inflection point. Xi’s choice of action was to unleash
ambitious and comprehensive plans to reform the political economy,
to discipline the state and society, and to assert China’s global
position. As leader, Xi has accumulated a great deal of power, and he
has managed to make himself the “core” of the Party by inserting his
theoretical contributions (with his name attached) into the Party and
state constitutions. He has privileged his revolutionary heritage,
confidence, and sense of mission to unleash numerous widely
ambitious and far-reaching projects.
Xi’s notion of the “China Dream and Great Rejuvenation” aims to
restore China’s historical greatness and international stature, and to
turn the country into a great power and an innovative economic
powerhouse. Like his predecessors in the post-Mao period, he has
searched for China’s unique path for modernization, development,
and prosperity for all. Xi was essentially occupied with those issues
confronting most other world leaders—the search for a modern
governance model that could reconcile relationships between
government, market, and civil society under conditions of
intensifying globalization, competition, and technical and climate
changes. His new goals were to map out a model of quality and
sustainable development. He sought to improve the quality of life,
tackle poverty, combat pollution, and improve public services and the
social safety net. He attempted to instill greater pride and self-
confidence in the Chinese people and to win over their hearts and
minds with the aspirational slogan “Awesome China.” And following
CCP tradition, Xi set multiple five-year plans to realize these goals.
Unlike his predecessors, however, Xi quickly introduced major
dramatic and unprecedented transformations in the party state. After
a rapid consolidation of power, he effected a threefold centralization
of power in his person, the capital, and the Party. Simultaneously, Xi
tried to save the party state by forcing discipline on it through
draconian measures, including a sweeping anticorruption campaign.
An uber-Leninist, Xi also imposed greater discipline on civil society
and other political entities by tightening surveillance, by censorship,
and by cracking down on dissent. This earned him the reputation of
an authoritarian and even a dictator. He introduced a sweeping
reform and reorganization of the judiciary and the military. He
pushed development on all policy fronts, and on economic reforms
pledged to let market forces “play a decisive role” in the allocation of
resources while ensuring that “the government can play its own role
more effectively.”2 Xi’s first term ended with the most comprehensive
restructuring of the party state in the post-Mao reform period.
Externally, Xi’s avowed goal was to foster “a more just and
rational” new world order and to move China toward “center stage in
the world.” Abandoning the more cautious foreign policy of his
predecessors, he strove to seek a new power relationship with other
countries, especially with the United States. Xi’s Belt and Road
Initiative is an ambitious and colossal venture to connect and
enmesh large numbers of Eurasian countries with trade, investment,
and infrastructural development. Xi spearheaded globalization and
attempted to fight climate change at a time when the United States
appeared to be withdrawing into unilateralism, isolationism, and
protectionism. Yet Xi’s ambition to modernize and strengthen China
inevitably deepened security dilemmas with international
competitors, especially with the United States, generating mistrust
and confrontation.3
In describing Xi Jinping as a “Mandela class of person,” seasoned
Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew might have exaggerated, but
he was more accurate when he called Xi an “impressive” leader with
“iron in his soul.” Lee also noted that Xi’s life experiences had
hardened him, turning him into a person with emotional stability and
an inner sense of purpose who did not allow his personal misfortune
or suffering to affect his judgment.4 One astute analyst painted Xi as
a renaissance man, self-assured, self-possessed, and utterly
unflappable who is as at home with poverty-stricken farmers in their
shacks as with world political and economic leaders in the grand
halls at foreign capitals.5 To others, Xi is not just an authoritarian but
also an enemy to democracy. The autocratic party state of Xi, they
argued, engages in a relentless attempt to undermine democracy
and to spread its own model of development worldwide. This posed
an existential threat to specific US interests, the survival of
democracy, and the liberal international order. For instance, the 2017
US National Security Strategy branded China a “revisionist
challenger” that “challenge(s) American power, influence, and
interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.”6
Still other observers portray Xi as bland, colorless, and devoid of
charisma. Another oft-used adjective applied to him is pragmatic.7
Such varied characterizations of Xi are suggestive, although for the
sake of a more thorough analysis, it is necessary to interrogate the
complexities that make up his personality, life experience, and policy
orientation. Xi is indeed a complex person, rich in contrasts, and the
nexus of his manifestations of ideology/pragmatism,
humility/ambition, and insecurity/confidence must be set against
situational and relational contexts.
Given the importance of the subject of Xi and China, dozens of
academic articles are published every day to satisfy the great
demand for information. Numerous prominent academics have
already published on Xi.8 The media, too, are filled with Xi analyses
twenty-four hours a day. This book has tremendously benefited by
the insights contained in existing research, but it differs from it in a
couple of aspects. First, this book is the first comprehensive and
systematic exploration, in one convenient volume, of all episodes of
Xi’s first sixty-five years, with a political career starting at age
seventeen. My consideration of Xi’s whole career, focusing on
governance, leadership, and policymaking, will as well cover his
entire first term as general secretary, which culminated at the critical
Nineteenth Party Congress (October 2017) and Thirteenth National
People’s Congress (March 2018), where many new decisions and
breakthroughs were introduced. I use these two congresses as the
endpoints for the analysis, affording a certain historical distance.
Chinese developments after 2018 entered a more turbulent stage,
with events such as the violent protests in Hong Kong, which ended
with the draconian National Security Law, and the international
coronavirus crisis, which radically altered the global political
economy. The long time frame will provide us with a historical
perspective on the larger issues of China’s political, economic, and
social developments.
Second, this book is an academic study that aims to turn the
understanding of China into scientific knowledge, and to integrate
China studies with the social science discipline. While common sense
and intuition are indispensable for all forms of research, I am
inspired by the conceptual schemes, classifications, and theoretical
structures drawn from the social sciences. The approach is
multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and evidence based in order to
uncover the patterns and connections underlying the phenomena
being explored. Moreover, instead of treating China in isolation, the
book is grounded in comparative analyses. It strives for objectivity
and balance to describe and explain the Xi era and avoids value
judgments, sensational language, and sweeping generalizations. The
discussions are backed up by careful citations so that claims can be
verified. The detailed notes will indicate introductory texts for
general readers, as well as more advanced academic literature for
those who wish to probe further.
The book does not rely on one grand theory to explain everything
but instead utilizes many middle-range social science theories. The
goal is to further our understanding through comparative and
contextualized knowledge. For instance, drawing from international
relations studies, I refer to the realist, beral, and constructivist
paradigms,9 as well as to the combined utilities of the three levels of
analysis—the system, the state, and the individual.10 I explain
China’s conflicts with foreign countries in terms of security dilemmas,
and Southeast Asia’s strategy in coping with China in terms of
enmeshment and socialization (constructivist theories). Yet I also try
to explain the limitations of some of the major theoretical
paradigms. For instance, liberal internationalists tend to argue that
economic interdependence fosters cooperation and reduces conflicts,
since conflicts tend to hurt both sides. However, there are other
intervening variables that must be considered. Nationalism, identity
politics, political cultures, and the fear of the loss of control figure
prominently in China’s relationships with such countries as the
United States, Japan, Taiwan, and the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, even though these entities are economically
interdependent on one another.
According to the literature on the sociology of development,
modernization, the complex and uneven process by which
traditional, rural, and agricultural communities are transformed into
more secular, urban, and industrialized societies, generates conflicts,
dislocations, and challenges to governance that cannot be
overexaggerated. Urbanization, industrialization, and marketization
uproot the traditional society by creating new social classes, social
and gender norms, migration, and winners and losers that can be
very destabilizing. The dislocation and pain generated are especially
acute in societies undergoing rapid change, as in China over the past
few decades. This is not to say that modernization is a unilinear or
irreversible process, since new technologies such as social media can
and have reintroduced and reinforced interests in history, religion,
and traditional norms and values.11 From comparative politics, I
draw on the notions of rationality, structure, and culture to explain
Chinese political behavior as well as how analysts interpret Chinese
issues. I refer to the theories of revolutions to explain why Mao
launched more “revolutions” even after gaining power in the 1949
revolution. By drawing on the various classifications of corruption
(white, gray, and black), I attempt to offer a more nuanced
understanding of that phenomenon in China. I refer to organizational
and institutional approaches to explain Chinese bureaucratic
behavior.
Finally, the theory on governance in turbulent times postulates
that rapid technological change, global interdependence, and
intensified conflict and divisions have made the governance
environment much more complex, volatile, and uncertain.
Contemporary policymakers must contend with a dizzying array of
“wicked,” intractable, and messy problems.12 I find this resonates
with the Chinese experience and explains much of Xi’s threat
perceptions and policy responses. In all, my analysis goes beyond
analogies such as “emperor,” dictator, godfather, and the new Mao
and provides better contextualization for Xi’s thinking and actions.
Indeed, the book can be criticized for dabbling in too many social
science theories. However, China and Xi are immensely complex
subjects, and a variety of angles and analytical and theoretical
lenses are appropriate for fostering understanding. One issue in
social science in general, and China studies in particular, is the “poor
interdisciplinary dialogue.”13 Simply put, in the China field, political
scientists tend to focus on the issue of power, policy analysts on the
policy process, economists on supply and demand, and sociologists
on social stratifications. Some specialists focus on Chinese domestic
politics but not Chinese foreign relations, or vice versa. Historians
(and many political scientists) provide valuable contexts but seldom
engage with social science theories. Each disciplinary approach may
illuminate certain aspects of the Chinese reality but obscure others,
and I hope that my multi- and interdisciplinary approaches will yield
better explanatory value and holistic critical thinking. Additionally,
the different perspectives raise awareness on the limitations of
knowledge, and the uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding our
understanding of the world.
Another assumption that undergirds this book is that scientific
knowledge is cumulative. My book is therefore grounded in the large
corpus of existing research and debates on China. It attempts to
incorporate and synthesize the latest research to reflect on the
utilities and limitations of these studies. It does not avoid academic
controversies and takes issue with well-established theories on
Chinese politics, such as the “one party, two coalitions” thesis and
the “Chinese Communist Youth League” faction (tuanpai) solidarity
argument. Further, I also analyze and classify the assumptions of
existing research by China watchers and evaluate the different
approaches. This may ruffle some feathers, but my purpose is to
stimulate more discussion and to advance knowledge, especially
when the social scientific understanding of China is continuously
evolving.14
 Governance and Leadership
Before we begin to examine Xi’s governance record, a few words
about my framework and assumptions are in order. The term
“governance” is a broad and ambiguous one. In general, we use the
term to refer to a government’s decision-making and
implementation, and its management of complexity, especially under
the conditions of globalization. Governance is always political since it
refers to “the manner in which power is exercised in the
management of a country’s economic and social resources for
development.”15 Good governance is associated with accountability,
efficiency, mobilization, and the provision of public goods such as
economic growth and the rule of law. It also means the adaptation
of the institutions and functions of the state to address the strains of
development, such as inequality, imbalances, and environmental
challenges. As such, governance is critical to the achievement of
society’s objectives. It is especially salient in turbulent and rapidly
changing times.16
On the other hand, leaders are a key to how governments
perform. They guide, influence, and modify the behavior of their
followers. A competent and committed leadership does not simply
manage; it provides high-quality political goods, and governance in
this sense denotes “an ongoing process of steering or enhancing the
institutional capacity to steer and coordinate.”17 A sound leadership
articulates an inspiring vision, motivates people, and ensures the
realization of the organizational goals. It can provide high-quality
political goods and ensure economic growth and human uplift (or
development). It builds a team, trains, and recruits talents for these
purposes.
In the developing countries, institutions are weaker, and leaders
often must build institutions from scratch. Institutionalization (i.e.,
the process of infusing formal organization with values beyond the
technical requirements of the task at hand) is a lengthy process, and
a major challenge is to enable institutions to take root.18 The
handling of weighty matters such as war, peace, stability, economic
growth, education, and healthcare is contingent on the skills,
competencies, and intention of the leadership. The leaders of
developing countries are more responsible for societal outcomes
since there is a long tradition of state-controlled development as well
as a political culture of dependency. They are expected to tackle
simultaneously the tasks of nation-building, the remolding of political
cultures, and the forging of a new national identity, much of which is
taken for granted in developed countries. Their citizens expect
material gains, political freedoms, and economic choices.
Consequently, political leadership is tougher in the developing world,
especially in an age of intensive globalization. Not only does it have
to contend with rapid and unprecedented changes that often bring
about serious dislocations, but it has less of a cushion in maintaining
the physical well-being of the population. In the matters of
governance and policymaking it is confronted by a host of challenges
and crises. For instance, developing countries have lower economic
and political capabilities, more acute class and ethnic conflicts,
greater income disparity across regions, and a lower education and
knowledge base. The large proportion of agricultural populations in
most developing countries is one manifestation of
underdevelopment. Government officials tend to be underpaid, and
there are numerous temptations for rent-seeking. Corruption is a
perennial problem, and transformational leaders are rare.19
Today China is advanced in many respects, but in many respects it
is still a developing country. During the first few decades of Xi’s
political career China was unquestionably poor and undeveloped. For
this reason, the literature on governance and policymaking in
developing countries provides sound perspectives and contexts for
my analysis.

Power and Policy

A distinction has often been drawn between “politics” and
“governance,” with the former referring to the pursuit of particular
interests, the latter to the production of public goods.20 However, in
considering China, I assume that the two are blurred, since decision-
making, implementation, and reform there often involve competition
and conflict. Further, the issues of power and policy in China are
inextricably intertwined. It is a truism that Xi and the CCP strive to
preserve a monopoly of political power and suppress all challengers.
They resist calls for a single push to a liberal democratic form of
government as a panacea to solve all China’s problems. Apart from
the pursuit of power, the Chinese leadership also uses power as an
instrument to fulfill certain goals, such as the modernization of China
and its attaining “wealth and power.” It strives to spearhead
development and change to maintain legitimacy and to provide
strong leadership to counter the fear of weakness, instability, and
chaos, a fear that is ingrained in the political culture. More
specifically, one observer summarizes Xi’s goals: preserve party rule
and regime unity; sustain economic balance with environmental
concerns; maintain peace among border states and project China’s
maritime power; project economic power in Asia and around the
world; and slowly reform certain respects of the postwar rules-based
international order to suit its national interests.21
Accordingly, the view that Xi is an emperor or dictator who is
merely interested in pursuing power for power’s sake misses much
of the dynamics—the deliberations, conflicts, and change—in
Chinese politics. This holds true for views that regard the CCP as just
another obsolete elite doomed to collapse or wither away. These
views underestimate the extent to which the CCP, a product of
history, has adapted itself to changing times, and the extent to
which the matters of ideology, organization, and membership have
been transformed. For better or worse, in China the CCP is still the
only institution serving the functions of nation-state building, interest
articulation and aggregation, and socioeconomic transformation. It is
also a modernizing elite and a part of society. I concur with China
specialists who have urged taking the CCP leadership seriously by
“bringing the Party back in.”22
My analysis of policy is informed by the existing social science
literature on decision-making and policymaking. This literature has
long dismissed the rational actor model, which assumes that
decision-makers have all the necessary information and energy to
identify problems, calculate the costs and benefits of each
alternative, pick the best decision, and optimize the outcome. In
contrast, the “satisficing” model shows that decision-makers often
select an alternative that seems good enough, since they do not
have full information and cannot pick the best option by extensive
calculations of costs and benefits. A related concept is “good-enough
governance,” which suggests that political and economic
development can proceed once certain minimum conditions are met.
Given the constraints of time, money, resources, and energy, the
long list of institutional and capacity improvements often said to be
indispensable for development is unrealistic. Policies for development
have to be prioritized according to specific country and historical
contexts.23 In addition, the incrementalism model suggests that
policymakers tend to favor a series of small steps and seek marginal
improvements rather than drastic and radical measures, even though
these improvements rarely completely solve problems. The
bureaucratic politics and implementation literature also regard as
normal the fact that the decision and policy process is a function of
bureaucratic wrangling, competition, and conflict. Further, the
concept of pathology of policymaking also highlights such
phenomena as inertia, red tape, goal conflict, and goal
displacement.24 Finally, the garbage can model highlights the
irrational and chaotic reality of decision-making. In this scenario,
organizations often have unclear or disputed goals, and problems
and solutions are tossed around like garbage. Decision-makers are
disconnected from problems and solutions, since their incentive is to
look for work, and the outcome is that choices are looking for
problems.25 These theories are worth mentioning because
aspirational official documents and some watchers outside China,
explicitly or implicitly, assume that China can and should follow the
“rational” tenets and maximize policy outcomes. Others hold an
idealized and unrealistic assumption that there are perfect solutions
to China’s issues, whereas in reality all good things are not
achievable at the same time. These policymaking theories alert me
to the complexity of the issues I am considering and serve as useful
heuristic devices. In the following, several other aspects deserve
attention.
First, economists have often drawn attention to policy conflicts,
which means that the achievement of one economic objective can
only come at the expense of another. They have gone beyond the
butter/gun, growth/equity alternatives to account for conflicts such
as high employment and high inflation, and economic growth and
balance of payments issues. Second, policymaking is about how to
deal with sets of constraints and trade-offs. Often, hard choices and
balances must be made. Third, the accelerating globalization means
that the world is more interconnected, and states are more
interdependent on one another. A state’s policy is often contingent
on other states, and the sources of problems often emanate from
without. Economic shocks or pandemics from one part of the world
quickly spread to the rest, and the levers of governments are often
limited. Fourth, there is the tendency of policy to generate
unintended consequences, and the resolution of certain issues may
create new ones in other areas. Fifth, some problems are intractable
or can only be mitigated with time. Dubbed “wicked problems,”
these are complex policy problems where actors and stakeholders
disagree on the nature and solution of the issue, where information
is insufficient or controversial, and where choices involve the
conflicts of values.26
In the Chinese context, the various conflicts, constraints, and
external determinants are clearly played out in the policymaking
process. To cite just a few examples, the promotion of efficiency by
favoring coastal development inevitably exacerbates regional
inequality, leaving the interior regions behind. Technological
advances and automation lead to the loss of jobs and
unemployment. To reduce the cost of exports and to make them
internationally competitive, China bears the externalities of pollution
and environmental decay. Economic development leads to rapid
urbanization, which spawns issues such as congestion, pollution, and
pressure on social services. A modernizing China brings about new
capabilities and defensive/offensive behavior that threatens the
security of other states, according to the logic of the security
dilemma. The Chinese decision-makers realize that not all problems
have solutions, and that many problems are so formidable that they
describe them as enduring, large, and intractable (laodanan), an
expression roughly equivalent to the “wicked problems” referred to
in organizational and institutional theory. Reforms in areas such as
state-owned enterprises, healthcare, the financial system, migration,
and climate change belong to this category. The Chinese are familiar
with the management of complexity—when some problems are
solved, new ones emerge in an ongoing process with no finality.
Exploration along these lines resonates with the notion of
governance in China, which privileges its multidirectional,
paradoxical, fluid, and open-ended aspects.27
Xi’s approach during his first term was broadly consistent with that
taken by his predecessors during the reform period. Under Xi,
strategic planning and initiatives were combined with a series of
small steps. Continuous improvements were punctuated by bold
policy shifts or even large changes. Policy initiatives could travel
from the top down or from the bottom up, and there was a great
deal of experimentation and trial and error. There were continuous
experiments along such spectrums as centralization/decentralization,
government direction/market freedom, and control/relaxation,
although the CCP often privileged political and economic stability as
necessary preconditions for growth. Achievements in some respects
were offset by setbacks in others. All this is consistent with the
tenets of incrementalism, or what Lindblom called the “science of
muddling through” or “disjointed incrementalism.” Incrementalism,
however, does not preclude fundamental changes or the neglect of
social justice.28
Although a seasoned policymaker, Xi was unlikely familiar with
social science theories and terminologies, but judging by his
constant reference to the new normal, black swans, and gray rhinos,
he understood explicitly and implicitly the various aspects of the
governance of turbulence as an everyday reality. The public
pronouncements of Xi and the CCP tended to exude confidence and
to bring forward multiple and ambitious goals as if all values could
be achieved at once. But in reality, China’s leaders constantly
wrestled with attempts to balance various constraints and conflicts.
Specifically, this study of Xi focuses on issues of political career,
leadership, and governance. My broad scope, covering Xi’s first sixty-
five years, allows me to explore not only the historical evolution of
the PRC, but also the temporal and spatial dimensions of Xi the
leader amid profound political, social, and economic changes. One
consideration was to divide this long book into two volumes, but I
decided that a single volume with two roughly equal parts makes
more sense. Hence, Part I covers the historical and pre-general
secretary stage from Xi’s birth to age sixty. This part explores, in
chronological order, Xi’s formative childhood and youth experiences
and his entry into Chinese politics while a teenager, as well as his
administrative experiences covering all Chinese administrative levels.
This enables me to investigate the nature and characteristics of
multilevel governance. Such an episodic approach enables me to
observe Xi’s motivations, performances, and the constraints facing
him in specific but changing contexts and the zeitgeist. It allows us
to examine Xi’s motivations in entering politics and provides
psychological insight into his character and personality. I explain how
Xi succeeded in climbing to the “top of the greasy pole,” whereas
others fell by the wayside and even suffered ignominious ends. In
addition, this affords us an opportunity to explore the relationship
between the individual leaders and the political system, society, and
the historical contexts in which leaders rise and fall from power. In
his fifty-nine years before becoming general secretary, Xi lived
through momentous and radical changes. He experienced extreme
highs and lows. The motivations guiding Xi have been a mixture of
power, ideology, policy, and expediency, all intertwined. On the other
hand, in considering the rise of leaders in China, one often neglected
aspect is the institutional role—the active, deliberate, and long-term
recruitment and cultivation efforts by the Party Center, together with
organs such as the Central Organization Department and the like, to
groom potential future leaders to protect and perpetuate CCP rule.
Key central and provincial leaders had to be funneled through the
small and exclusive pool of the Central Committee with a full and
alternate membership of approximately four hundred. Potential
national and provincial leaders were groomed by rotation through
different administrative posts to gather experience and to gain
promotion into the Central Committee. Such a recruitment process is
a fascinating subject of study in itself. In any case, the Party’s
choices were limited and the grooming and selection process long.
Furthermore, placements in high political offices were most often a
contentious issue affecting different factions and vested interests.
The qualities and characteristics of the potential candidates were
important for them to get ahead, but so were personal connections,
loyalty networks, and affiliations. Inquiry along these lines will allow
us to examine the assumptions and values of perspectives on
Chinese politics such as power struggle, patron-client, and factional
politics. My consideration of Xi’s ascendancy will enable us to explore
both the formal and the informal aspects of leadership politics. The
rise of Xi shows that he was an object of political recruitment and
succession, and in turn, Xi and the leadership have continued these
functions of recruitment and succession as a significant aspect of
rejuvenating the elite and promoting mobility. I will attempt to
explain why potential leaders were promoted and others cast aside.
Part II focuses on Xi’s first five-year term as general secretary and
as president. Because of the complexity of the subject, I depart from
the chronological format and explore political and ideological issues
in chapter 9, economic and social policies in chapter 10, and military
and foreign relations in chapter 11. I return to the sequential format
by discussing Xi and policymaking at the critical Nineteenth Party
Congress (October 2017) and the Thirteenth National People’s
Congress (NPeC, March 2018) in chapters 12 and 13. My exploration
of all major policy areas, from power consolidation to centralization,
from economic reform to social development, and from military
reform to foreign relations, enables us to examine the policy
process, the conflicts, and the linkages across different policy
sectors, and the impact of global interdependency and linkages. The
analysis highlights Xi’s sense of confidence and his sense of
vulnerabilities in China’s security. It analyzes the bold and decisive
reforms introduced under Xi and their attendant problems and
pushbacks. Xi was (and still is) a strong leader, but he operated in
conditions of equally strong constraints and resistance.
Internationally, Xi also had to contend with a competitive, protean,
and uncertain international environment.
In this regard, this book is no mere biography of Xi Jinping even
though it is arranged in chronological order. One goal of the book is
to utilize the chapters on the different stages of Xi’s life experience
and career as a series of case studies shedding light on different
periods and aspects of China’s politics and society since the founding
of the People’s Republic in 1949, albeit from the perspective of the
life history of one important individual. The Roman “cursus
honorum,” or course of offices, in both the Republic and the Empire,
delineates stages of official advancement, each with a distinct
institutional locus. Xi’s political career followed a similar pattern,
which included stints in the central political hierarchy, territorial and
local administration, and the military. My mapping of Xi’s political
career will throw light on major episodes of modern China’s
development, from the revolutionary upheavals of Mao’s time to the
seismic changes of the past thirty-odd years. Xi’s career spanned the
grassroots and the various administrative units, such as the
prefectural, county, and provincial levels, as well as the national, and
this affords us opportunities to gauge China’s developmental
experiences through these varied vantage points. Furthermore, I
hope to shed light on the unique policy innovations, constraints,
achievements, and failures experienced by the regional and local
governments, especially in the post-Mao period. This is important
because a great deal of the subtlety of vital local issues has often
been obscured by studies that focus on China as a whole. I use the
NPeC in 2018 as a cutoff point to allow a historical distance for my
analysis, but whenever appropriate, I will summarize key
developments after that date to give readers a better perspective.
Overall, this study of Xi’s grand scheme to restructure China’s
political economy also shows constraints, contradictions, and
pushbacks, especially in foreign policy. Xi’s overreach and
overcontrol has alienated many people, especially when there is little
or no external check on the power of Xi and the CCP. The excessive
reliance on hard power could harden the pushbacks and yield
diminishing returns. Concerns over Xi’s autocratic policy have
heightened around the world. The revelations of alleged internment
camps for more than one million Uighurs in Xinjiang and the
mounting crisis in Hong Kong that cumulated in the oppressive
National Security Law in 2020 drew worldwide condemnation. The
same year saw the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic,
which originated from China, engulfing the world with devastating
effects on virtually all aspects of life. The pandemic heightened a
general sense of trauma and insecurity, which in turn exacerbated
xenophobia, racism, and the spread of misinformation and faked
news. It exposed the weaknesses and dysfunctionality of institutions
worldwide. During crises, states tend to retreat into isolation and
discourage connection and cooperation. Additionally, 2020 coincided
with election year in the United States and election rhetoric
exacerbated Sinophobia, with called for decoupling from Beijing. In
the developed economies, unfavorable views on China hiked to 75
percent or higher, and two-thirds of Americans held a negative view
of China, and the China-US schism seemed to be deepening to a
point of no return.29
The lasting impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world and
on China will probably not be entirely clear for years and is outside
the scope of this book. However, it does make an objective and
sober evaluation of the China experience even more difficult. My
focus on Xi’s governance record during his first term will pay
attention to progressive and regressive features as well as his many
blind spots. Domestically, there were reforms, improvements, as well
as crackdowns and abuses. Externally, Beijing was assertive in some
respects but cooperative in others. In terms of the value of
investment and manufacturing, Beijing and Washington were
probably the most interconnected partners in the world, a
phenomenon often branded Chinamerica. Chinese industries served
the world with abundant and inexpensive manufactured products. Of
course, the flip side of the coin of cooperation is the resentment of
closeness, interdependency, and the fear of competition. Yet the
Manichaean view of China and the world misses the nuances and
complexity of what we are trying to grapple with. Also, instead of
viewing China’s foreign policy as the mere outcome of an
authoritarian system, it is more realistic to explore Beijing’s external
relations in the context of its strategic interaction with stimuli from
the outside world. The world can change China as much as China
can change the world.
Importantly, reaching back to history gives us a longer perspective
to interpret the rise of China and its contemporary implications as
well as the many contradictions they demonstrate. My analysis of
Xi’s first term provides a benchmark to compare the continuities and
change during Xi’s second and even third term. Individual chapters
of this book can be read as a series of case studies. Readers who
are interested in the history of Xi’s career, regional studies, multilevel
governance, and socioeconomic development may focus on Part I.
Those who are more interested in Xi’s governance record as general
secretary, or contemporary political, socioeconomic, military, and
foreign relations issues, may focus on Part II.

A Note on the Sources and Citations

Since contemporary sources on Xi Jinping may simultaneously
exaggerate, embellish, and underplay his records, I try, as much as
possible, to use historical and archival sources that were published
contemporaneously with the events I discuss. Internet sources will
be cited with web addresses. Books and articles will be listed with
the customary citations. However, because of the large numbers of
citations, other English sources, such as reports from the South
China Morning Post, the New York Times, and so on, or Chinese
sources from the Renmin ribao (People’s Daily), Zhongguo jingji
xinxiwang, and so on, that I obtained from the Factiva database will
not be cited individually with the phase “Retrieved from Factiva
database.” Similarly, articles obtained from the China Academic
Journals Full-Text Database, which collects more than thirty-five
hundred education and social sciences journals, will be listed with
full citations including author, name of the journal, issue, date of
publication, and page numbers. They will not be individually be cited
with the phase “Retrieved from China Academic Journal Full-Text
Database.” Finally, Chinese concepts and expressions do not always
have exact English equivalents, and much can be lost in translation,
contributing to misunderstandings and misperceptions. A few cases
will be pointed out in this study.
 PART I
XI JINPING’S PATH TO THE TOP
 2
Childhood and Youth

Privilege and Trauma, 1953–1979

As the son of Xi Zhongxun (1913–2002), a major revolutionary

veteran, Xi Jinping is considered a princeling, the offspring of high
officials who enjoyed relative privilege and impunity. Yet, like most
Chinese who survived the Maoist period, much of Xi’s youth was
afflicted by hardship and trauma. In 1949 Mao founded the
communist regime and unified China after a full century of war,
chaos, and disintegration. There was a new sense of purpose for the
reconstruction of the country, but the revolutionary impulses that
drove the communist conquest were not spent. As theories of
comparative revolutions indicate, revolutionaries seldom settle easily
into construction after the seizure of power. The habits of violence
and struggle, and the fervent desire to transform the old regime with
a new ideology, often lead to more radicalism. When the new regime
encounters counterrevolution and foreign interventions, the
revolution can turn even more violent, fearing for its very survival.
The outcome is often alternate “reigns of virtue” and “reigns of
terror.”1 This was especially the case with the CCP, which had fought
a bitter and projected revolution against internal and external
enemies since its founding in 1921. The CCP cooperated with the
Guomindang (GMD or Nationalists) during the First United Front
(1923–1927) to fight “feudalism and imperialism,” but since Jiang
Jieshi turned against the communists in 1927, the two continued to
duel throughout the early-1930s and during the Sino-Japanese War
(1937–1945) despite the nominal cooperation to fight Japanese
aggression. After the victory over Japan, the CCP and the GMD were
immediately embroiled in a bitter civil war that lasted from 1945 to
1949. As soon as the CCP came to power in 1949, the Korean War
(1950–1953) and the onset of the Cold War had turned the United
States into an enemy of China, which was isolated by the US
nonrecognition, trade embargo, and containment policy. In power,
Mao was driven by his sense of volunteerism and utopianism, as well
as by his theory of permanent revolution.2 China was rocked by Mao’s
grand transformative vision to rapidly catch up with the West and
simultaneously revolutionize Chinese culture and society. This led to a
series of upheavals including the Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns,
collectivization, and the Great Leap Forward, and culminated in the
disastrous Cultural Revolution.3 Further, scarcity and austerity
characterized the entire Maoist period, as most Chinese lived in
grinding poverty. At the time of Mao’s death in 1976, China’s nominal
GDP per capita was only US$163,4 but the chairman did lay down the
foundation for industrialization, socioeconomic development, and
national independence. Even today, the descendants of the revolution
are ultrasensitive to foreign interventions that in turn may radicalize
domestic politics.
China’s princelings enjoy special access to political power,
recruitment, and career mobility. By dint of their ascriptive
characteristics and presumed loyalty to the regime, they are well
positioned to thrive in a cultural milieu where connections, patron-
client relations, and informal politics play important roles. This is
especially true for the children of the first generation of
revolutionaries, dubbed the hongerdai, the Red Second Generation
(R2G), who were deemed miaochungenzheng (literally, “pure stems
and roots” or “pure pedigree”), loyal and trustworthy successors to
the revolution. A more subtle classification distinguishes between the
“second generation of red communists” and “second generation of
officials” (O2G).5 The former refers to offspring of veteran communist
revolutionaries who fought in the communist movement before 1949
and are therefore regarded as founders of the PRC—examples in
addition to Xi include Li Peng, Zeng Qinghong, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu
Yuan, and Bo Xilai. O2G refers to offspring of high officials who were
not communist revolutionaries and includes the sons and daughters
of Zhu Rongji, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Zhou Yongkang, and Guo
Boxiong. Yet these are imprecise categories, since the “third
generation of red revolutionaries” still enjoy certain allure, even
though they are essentially the same as the O2G. In any case,
despite norms governing conflicts of interest, nepotism and favoritism
have been rampant. The elitist assumption of the Leninist CCP as a
vanguard leadership has also encouraged self-perpetuation of the
political elite.
However, the privileges of the princelings under Mao need to be
put into the context of the Maoist ethos of asceticism and
egalitarianism. The Gini coefficient of wealth distribution during the
Mao period was .33, and urban necessities were tightly rationed.
Even the elite suffered through such calamities as the Great Leap
famine of the 1960s, and as a group they experienced numerous
political ups and downs. Mao’s radical and revolutionary impulses
drove him to attack and punish the party-state elite and ultimately to
replace them with an entirely new generation of “revolutionary
successors,” which included Red Guards and Maoist radicals
purportedly dedicated to radicalism and mobilization politics. The old
elite and their descendants were mercilessly tormented and
traumatized during the Cultural Revolution. Consequently, a mixture
of revolutionary heritage, privilege, and trauma has left indelible
marks on Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping and His Revolutionary Parents

Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, was a first-generation Chinese communist
revolutionary, a founder and a moderate political leader of the PRC.
Xi senior’s career was intertwined with the continuous wars and
disintegration during most of the twentieth century, before and after
the founding of the People’s Republic.6 Xi Zhongxun began as a child
activist/soldier/revolutionary and is celebrated for the founding of the
communist guerrilla base areas in northwestern China in the 1930s.7
Born in 1913 into a poor (one source claims relatively prosperous)
peasant family in Henan, he fled famine to settle in Shaanxi. Both his
parents died when Xi Zhongxun was fifteen, leaving him to look after
an extended family of more than a dozen. Xi Zhongxun joined the
Chinese Communist Youth League (CYL) at age thirteen in 1926 and
was arrested in 1928 by GMD authorities for participating in student
demonstrations. He was accepted into the CCP while in prison and,
upon his release, joined the peasant movement. In 1930 he joined
the GMD’s Northwest Army and, after participating in a failed coup
attempt from within, joined the communist guerrillas. He then joined
Liu Zhidan in 1933 to establish the Shaanxi-Gansu Border
Revolutionary Base Area, where the communists seized land from the
landlords and distributed it to landless peasants. At the age of
twenty-one in 1934, Xi became chairman of the Shanxi-Gansu Border
Soviet government formed to resist the GMD’s encirclement
campaigns.
During a rectification campaign, struggles and disputes within the
CCP in 1935 resulted in the jailing of Xi Zhongxun, Liu Zhidan, and
Gao Gang. Xi was about to be executed when he was saved by the
Long March contingent that reached North Shaanxi. The Northwest
Guerrilla Base Area, which gave the marchers refuge, was
subsequently transformed into the Yanan Soviet. Mao and the
communists spent a decade (1935–1945) in Yanan, where they
combined social reforms with resistance against the Japanese,
preparing them to take on the GMD during the civil war and to seize
power in 1949. Yanan has long since been celebrated as a
revolutionary legend and the most creative episode of Chinese
communism, and the Yanan spirit is said to have epitomized such
Maoist virtues as self-reliance, self-sufficiency, hard work, and
struggle.8 Upon the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Xi
served in various positions, as party secretary, political commissar,
principal of the Party School, and an alternate member of the Central
Committee. After the Japanese defeat, civil war broke out between
the GMD and the CCP, and Xi became secretary of the Northwest
Bureau, assisting Peng Dehuai in defeating the GMD forces at the
Another random document with
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 Le 16. — Émeute, sang, bruit de canons, bruit de mort. Nouvelle
venue comme un coup de foudre dans notre désert et calme
journée. Maurice, Caro, amis de Paris, je suis en peine, je vous vois
sur le volcan. Mon Dieu ! Je viens d’écrire à Caro et commence un
mot à M. d’Aurevilly, mon second frère en intérêt.

Le 18. — Point de lettre hier ni d’écriture ici. Je n’ai fait

qu’attendre, attendre un mécompte. Triste fin d’une journée
d’espérance, qui revient encore aujourd’hui ; rien ne peut l’éloigner
du cœur, cette trompeuse.
Je vais lire : que lirai-je ? Le choix des livres, malaisé comme
celui des hommes : peu de vrais et d’aimables.

Le 19. — Une lettre de Louise, pleine d’intérêt pour toi : rien que
cœur, esprit, charme d’un bout à l’autre, façon de dire qui ne se dit
nulle part que dans ces rochers de Rayssac. La solitude fait cela ; il
y vient des idées qui ne ressemblent à rien du monde, inconnues,
jolies comme des fleurs ou des mousses. Charmante Louise, que je
l’aime ! Je la trouve cette fois d’un calme, d’un désabusé qui
m’étonne, elle si illusionnée d’ordinaire. Je vais joindre l’autre
Louise, qui ressemble tant à celle-ci, ne trouves-tu pas ? et qui prie
aussi et fait prier pour ta guérison. « L’autre jour, m’écrit-elle (Louise
de Rayssac), j’étais à la Platée, paroisse de ma tante ; je
m’approchai d’une sainte fille qui habite cette église depuis le matin
jusqu’au soir, et qui est en grande vénération de sainteté. Je
soulevai un coin de son voile noir et lui dis bien bas : « Pardon,
mademoiselle, je voudrais vous demander des prières pour un jeune
homme malade, frère de la personne que j’aime le plus au monde. »
— « Eh bien ! je prierai », me dit-elle, avec cet air de modestie qui
donne encore plus de confiance à ma recommandation. — Je ne l’ai
pas revue. »
N’est-ce pas un joli trait pieux, mon ami, cette jeune fille quêtant
pour toi des prières avec un air d’intérêt céleste ? Elle est
charmante. Les anges lui auraient donné.

Le 21. — Mon bonheur, mon charme, mes délices, écrire au

soleil, écouter les oiseaux.
Ce n’a pas été long ce beau jour de ce matin. Hélas ! mon ami,
une lettre de Caro m’est venue parler si tristement de ta santé que
j’en suis accablée. Il tousse, il tousse encore ! Ces mots retentissent
partout depuis, une pensée désolante me poursuit, passe et repasse
dedans, dehors, et va tomber sur un cimetière ; je ne puis voir une
feuille verte sans penser qu’elle tombera bientôt et qu’alors les
poitrinaires meurent. Mon Dieu, détournez ces pressentiments,
guérissez-moi ce pauvre frère ! Que me faudrait-il faire pour lui ?
Impuissante affection ! Tout se réduit pour moi à souffrir pour toi.

Le 22. — Si jamais tu lis ceci, mon ami, tu auras l’idée d’une

affection permanente, ce quelque chose pour quelqu’un qui vous
occupe au coucher, au lever, dans le jour et toujours, qui fait
tristesse ou joie mobile et centre de l’âme. — En lisant un livre de
géologie, j’ai rencontré un éléphant fossile découvert dans la
Laponie, et une pirogue déterrée dans l’île des Cygnes, en creusant
les fondations du pont des Invalides. Me voilà sur l’éléphant, me
voilà dans la pirogue, faisant le tour des mers du Nord et de l’île des
Cygnes, voyant ces lieux du temps de ces choses : la Laponie
chaude, verdoyante et peuplée, non de nains, mais d’hommes
beaux et grands, de femmes s’en allant en promenade sur un
éléphant, dans ces forêts, sous ces monts pétrifiés aujourd’hui ; et
l’île des Cygnes, blanche de fleurs, et de leur duvet, oh ! que je la
trouve belle ! Et ses habitants, qui sont-ils ? que font-ils dans ce coin
du globe ? Descendants comme nous de l’exilé d’Éden, connaissent-
ils sa naissance, sa vie, sa chute, sa lamentable et merveilleuse
histoire ; cette Ève pour laquelle il a perdu le ciel, tant de malheur et
de bonheur ensemble, tant d’espérances dans la foi, tant de larmes
sur leurs enfants, tant et tant de choses que nous savons, que savait
peut-être avant nous ce peuple dont il ne reste qu’une planche ?
Naufrages de l’humanité que Dieu seul connaît, dont il a caché les
débris dans les profondeurs de la terre, comme pour les dérober à
notre curiosité ! S’il en laisse voir quelque chose, c’est pour nous
apprendre que ce globe est un abîme de malheurs, et que ce qu’on
gagne à remuer ses entrailles, c’est de découvrir des inscriptions
funéraires, des cimetières. La mort est au fond de tout, et on creuse
toujours comme qui cherche l’immortalité.
Une lettre de Félicité, qui ne m’apprend rien de meilleur de toi.
Quand écriront-ils, ceux qui en savent davantage ? Si on voyait
battre un cœur de femme, on en aurait plus de pitié. Pourquoi
sommes-nous ainsi, qu’un désir nous consume, qu’une crainte nous
brise, qu’une attente nous obsède, qu’une pensée nous remplisse et
que tout ce qui nous touche nous fasse tressaillir ? Souvenir de
lettres, heure de la poste, vue d’un papier, Dieu sait ce que j’en
éprouve ! Le désert des Coques aura vu bien des choses pour toi.
Ma douce amie, ma sœur de peines et d’affections est là, pour mon
bonheur, d’un côté, pour m’attrister, de l’autre, quand je la vois
souffrir, et qu’il me faut lui cacher mes souffrances pour ménager sa
sensibilité.

Le 24. — Inquiétudes, alarmes croissantes, lettre de M. de

Frégeville qui t’a trouvé plus mal. Mon Dieu ! faut-il apprendre
comme par hasard que je puis te perdre ? Personne de plus près
qu’un étranger ne me parlera pas de toi, ne me dira pas qu’il t’a vu
pour moi ! Dans l’éloignement, rien n’est accablant comme le
silence. C’est la mort avancée. Mon ami, mon frère, mon cher
Maurice, je ne sais que penser, que dire, que sentir. Après Dieu, je
ne vis qu’en toi comme une martyre, en souffrant. Et qu’est-ce que
cela, si je pouvais l’offrir pour te racheter ? quand je plongerais dans
une mer de douleur pour te sauver du naufrage. Toute rédemption
se fait par la souffrance : acceptez la mienne, mon Dieu, unissez-la
à celle des sœurs de Lazare, unissez-la à celle de Marie, au glaive
qui perça son âme auprès de Jésus mourant ; acceptez, mon Dieu,
coupez, tranchez en moi, mais qu’il se fasse une résurrection !
 Le 25. — Courrier passé sans me rien laisser. Mêmes doutes et
incertitudes, mêmes craintes envahissantes. Savoir et ne pas
savoir ! État d’indicibles angoisses. Et voilà la fin de ce cahier : mon
Dieu ! qui le lira [29] ?
[29] Qui devait le lire ? Ainsi qu’Eugénie de Guérin le
pressentait, ce ne fut pas Maurice, qui, ramené par elle,
et non sans peine, au Cayla, s’y éteignit moins de deux
mois après la date de cette page, le 19 juillet 1839. On
trouvera dans un des cahiers qui suivent le touchant récit
des derniers instants d’un frère si tendrement aimé.
 IX

ENCORE A LUI
A MAURICE MORT, A MAURICE AU CIEL

IL ÉTAIT LA GLOIRE ET LA JOIE DE MON CŒUR.

OH ! QUE C’EST UN DOUX NOM ET PLEIN DE DILECTION QUE LE NOM DE

FRÈRE !

Vendredi 19 juillet, à 11 heures ½, date éternelle !

Le 21 juillet [1839]. — Non, mon ami, la mort ne nous séparera

pas, ne t’ôtera pas de ma pensée : la mort ne sépare que le corps ;
l’âme, au lieu d’être là, est au ciel, et ce changement de demeure
n’ôte rien à ses affections. Bien loin de là, j’espère ; on aime mieux
au ciel où tout se divinise. O mon ami, Maurice, Maurice, es-tu loin
de moi, m’entends-tu ? Qu’est-ce que les lieux où tu es maintenant ?
qu’est-ce que Dieu si beau, si puissant, si bon, qui te rend heureux
par sa vue ineffable en te dévoilant l’éternité ? Tu vois ce que
j’attends, tu possèdes ce que j’espère, tu sais ce que je crois.
Mystères de l’autre vie, que vous êtes profonds, que vous êtes
terribles, que quelquefois vous êtes doux ! oui, bien doux, quand je
pense que le ciel est le lieu du bonheur. Pauvre ami, tu n’en as eu
guère ici-bas, de bonheur ; ta vie si courte n’a pas eu le temps du
repos. O Dieu ! soutenez-moi, établissez mon cœur dans la foi.
Hélas ! je n’ai pas assez de cet appui. Que nous t’avons gardé et
caressé et baisé, ta femme et nous tes sœurs, mort dans ton lit, la
tête appuyée sur un oreiller comme si tu dormais ! Puis nous t’avons
suivi dans le cimetière, dans la tombe, ton dernier lit, prié et pleuré,
et nous voici, moi t’écrivant comme dans une absence, comme
quand tu étais à Paris. Mon ami, est-il vrai, ne te reverrons-nous plus
nulle part sur la terre ? Oh ! moi je ne veux pas te quitter ; quelque
chose de doux de toi me fait présence, me calme, fait que je ne
pleure pas. Quelquefois larmes à torrents, puis l’âme sèche. Est-ce
que je ne le regretterais pas ? Toute ma vie sera de deuil, le cœur
veuf, sans intime union. J’aime beaucoup Marie et le frère qui me
reste, mais ce n’est pas avec notre sympathie. Reçu une lettre de
ton ami d’Aurevilly pour toi. Déchirante lettre arrivée sur ton cercueil.
Que cela m’a fait sentir ton absence ! Il faut que je quitte ceci, ma
tête n’y tient pas, parfois je me sens des ébranlements de cerveau.
Que n’ai-je des larmes ! J’y noierais tout.

Le 22. — Sainte Madeleine aujourd’hui, celle à qui il a été

beaucoup pardonné parce qu’elle a beaucoup aimé. Que cette
pensée, qui m’est venue pendant la messe que nous avons
entendue pour toi, m’a consolée sur ton âme ! Oh ! cette âme aura
été pardonnée, mon Dieu, je me souviens de tout un temps de foi et
d’amour qui n’aura pas été perdu devant vous.

Où l’éternité réside
On retrouve jusqu’au passé.

Le passé de la vertu surtout, qui doit couvrir les faiblesses, les

erreurs présentes. Oh ! que ce monde, cet autre monde où tu es
m’occupe. Mon ami, tu m’élèves en haut, mon âme se détache de
plus en plus de la terre ; la mort, je crois, me ferait plaisir.
— Eh ! que ferions-nous de l’éternité en ce monde ? Visites de
ma tante Fontenilles, d’Éliza, de M. Limer, d’Hippolyte, de Thérèse,
tout monde, hélas ! qui devait venir en joie de noces, et qui sont là
pour un enterrement. Ainsi changent les choses. Ainsi Dieu le veut.
Bonsoir, mon ami. Oh ! que nous avons prié ce matin sur ta tombe,
ta femme, ton père et tes sœurs !
Des visites, toujours des visites. Oh ! qu’il est triste de voir des
vivants, d’entrer en conversation, de revoir le cours ordinaire des
choses, quand tout est changé au cœur ! Mon pauvre ami, quel vide
tu me fais ! Partout ta place sans t’y voir… Ces jeunes filles, ces
jeunes gens, nos parents, nos voisins, qui remplissent en ce
moment le salon, qui sont autour de toi mort, t’entoureraient vivant et
joyeux, car tu te plaisais avec eux, et leur jeune gaieté t’égayait.
Lettre touchante de l’abbé de Rivières, qui te pleure en ami ;
pareille lettre de sa mère pour moi. Expression la plus tendre de
regret, douleur de mère mêlée à la mienne. Oh ! elle savait que tu
étais le fils de mon cœur.
Au retour de…

Sans date. — Je ne sais ce que j’allais dire hier à cet endroit

interrompu. Toujours larmes et regrets. Cela ne passe pas, au
contraire : les douleurs profondes sont comme la mer, avancent,
creusent toujours davantage. Huit soirs ce soir que tu reposes là-
bas, à Andillac, dans ton lit de terre. O Dieu, mon Dieu ! consolez-
moi ! Faites-moi voir et espérer au delà de la tombe, plus haut que
n’est tombé ce corps. Le ciel, le ciel ! oh ! que mon âme monte au
ciel !
Aujourd’hui grande venue de lettres que je n’ai pas lues. Que lire
là dedans ? Des mots qui ne disent rien. Toute consolation humaine
est vide. Que j’éprouve cruellement la vérité de ces paroles de
l’Imitation ! Ta berceuse est venue, la pauvre femme, toute larmes, et
portant gâteaux et figues que tu aurais mangés. Quel chagrin m’ont
donné ces figues ! Le plus petit plaisir que je te vois venir me semble
immense. Et le ciel si beau, et les cigales, le bruit des champs, la
cadence des fléaux sur l’aire, tout cela qui te charmerait me désole.
Dans tout je vois la mort. Cette femme, cette berceuse qui t’a veillé
et tenu un an malade sur ses genoux, m’a porté plus de douleur que
n’eût fait un drap mortuaire. Déchirante apparition du passé :
berceau et tombe. Je passerais la nuit ici avec toi sur ce papier ;
mais l’âme veut prier, l’âme te fera plus de bien que le cœur.
Chaque fois que je pose la plume ici, une lame me passe au
cœur. Je ne sais si je continuerai d’écrire. A quoi sert ce Journal ?
Pour qui ? hélas ! Et cependant je l’aime, comme on aime une boîte
funèbre, un reliquaire où se trouve un cœur mort, tout embaumé de
sainteté et d’amour. Ainsi ce papier où je te conserve, ami tant aimé,
où je te garde un parlant souvenir, où je te retrouverai dans ma
vieillesse… si je vieillis. Oh oui ! viendront les jours où je n’aurai de
vie que dans le passé, le passé avec toi, près de toi jeune,
intelligent, aimable, sensibilisant tout ce qui t’approchait, tel que je te
vois, tel que tu nous as quittés. Maintenant je ne sais ce qu’est ma
vie, si je vis. Tout est changé au dedans, au dehors. O mon Dieu !
que ces lettres sont déchirantes, ces lettres du bon marquis et de
ton ami surtout. Oh ! celles-ci, qu’elles m’ont fait pleurer ! Il y a là
dedans tant de larmes pour mes larmes ! Cet intime ami me touche
comme ferait te voir. Mon cher Maurice, tout ce que tu as aimé m’est
cher, me semble une portion de toi-même. Frère et sœur nous
serons avec M. d’Aurevilly ; il se dit mon frère.
Lu les Confessions de saint Augustin à l’endroit de la mort de son
ami. Trouvé un charme de vérité, une saillante expression de
douleur à cette lecture qui m’a fait du bien. Les saints savent
toujours mêler quelque chose de consolant à leurs larmes.

Le 28. — Rien n’est poignant comme le retour des mêmes

personnes dans des jours tout différents, revoir en deuil qui vous
avait porté la joie. Sa tante, la tante de Caroline, celle qui, il y a deux
ans, nous amenait ta fiancée, est arrivée, est ici où tu n’es pas…

Le 4 août. — A pareil jour vint au monde un frère que je devais

bien aimer, bien pleurer, hélas ! ce qui va souvent ensemble. J’ai vu
son cercueil dans la même chambre, à la même place où, toute
petite, je me souviens d’avoir vu son berceau, quand on m’amena de
Gaillac où j’étais, pour son baptême. Ce baptême fut pompeux, plein
de fête, plus qu’aucun autre de nous, marqué de distinction. Je jouai
beaucoup et je repartis le lendemain, aimant fort ce petit enfant qui
venait de naître. J’avais cinq ans. Deux ans après je revins, lui
portant une robe que je lui avais faite. Je lui mis sa robe et le menai
par la main le long de la garenne du nord, où il fit quelques pas tout
seul, les premiers, ce que j’allai annoncer en grande joie à ma
mère : « Maurice, Maurice a marché seul ! » Souvenir qui me vient
tout mouillé de larmes.

Le 6. — Journée de prières et de pieuse consolation : pèlerinage

de ton ami, le saint abbé de Rivières, à Andillac, où il a dit la messe,
où il est venu prier avec tes sœurs près de ta tombe. Oh ! que cela
m’a touchée ; que j’ai béni dans mon cœur ce pieux ami agenouillé
sur tes restes, dont l’âme, par delà ce monde, soulageait la tienne
souffrante, si elle souffre ! Maurice, je te crois au ciel. Oh ! j’ai cette
confiance, que tes sentiments religieux me donnent, que la
miséricorde de Dieu m’inspire. Dieu si bon, si compatissant, si
aimant, si Père, n’aurait-il pas eu pitié et tendresse pour un fils
revenu à lui ? Oh ! il y a trois ans qui m’affligent ; je voudrais les
effacer de mes larmes. Mon Dieu, tant de supplications ont été
faites ! Mon Dieu, vous les avez entendues, vous les aurez
exaucées. O mon âme, pourquoi es-tu triste et pourquoi me
troubles-tu ?

Le 13. — Besoin d’écrire, besoin de penser, besoin d’être seule,

non pas seule, avec Dieu et toi. Je me trouve isolée au milieu de
tous. O solitude vivante, que tu seras longue !

Le 17. — Commencé à lire les Saints désirs de la mort, lecture

de mon goût. Mon âme vit dans un cercueil. Oh ! oui, enterrée,
ensevelie en toi, mon ami ; de même que je vivais en ta vie, je suis
morte en ta mort. Morte à tout bonheur, à toute espérance ici-bas.
J’avais tout mis en toi, comme une mère en son fils ; j’étais moins
sœur que mère. Te souviens-tu que je me comparais à Monique
pleurant son Augustin, quand nous parlions de mes afflictions pour
ton âme, cette chère âme dans l’erreur ? Que j’ai demandé à Dieu
son salut, prié, supplié ! Un saint prêtre me dit : « Votre frère
reviendra. » Oh ! il est revenu, et puis m’a quittée pour le ciel, pour le
ciel, j’espère. Il y a eu des signes évidents de grâce, de miséricorde
dans cette mort. Mon Dieu, j’ai plus à vous bénir qu’à me plaindre.
Vous en avez fait un élu par les souffrances qui rachètent, par
l’acceptation et résignation qui méritent, par la foi qui sanctifie. Oh !
oui, cette foi lui était revenue vive et profonde ; cela s’est vu dans
des actes religieux, des prières, des lectures, et dans ce baiser à la
croix fait avec tant d’âme et d’amour un peu avant de mourir ! Oh !
moi qui le voyais faire, qui le regardais tant dans ses dernières
actions, j’ai dit, mon Dieu, j’ai dit qu’il s’en allait en paradis. Ainsi
finissent ceux qui s’en vont dans la vie meilleure.
Maurice, mon ami, qu’est-ce que le ciel, ce lieu des amis ?
Jamais ne me donneras-tu signe de là ? Ne t’entendrai-je pas,
comme on dit que quelquefois on entend les morts ? Oh ! si tu le
pouvais, s’il existe quelque communication entre ce monde et l’autre,
reviens ! Je n’aurai pas peur un soir de voir une apparition, quelque
chose de toi à moi qui étions si unis. Toi au ciel et moi sur la terre,
oh ! que la mort nous sépare ! J’écris ceci à la chambrette, cette
chambrette tant aimée où nous avons tant causé ensemble, rien que
nous deux. Voilà ta place et là la mienne. Ici était ton portefeuille si
plein de secrets de cœur et d’intelligence, si plein de toi et de choses
qui ont décidé de ta vie. Je le crois, je crois que les événements ont
influé sur ton existence. Si tu étais demeuré ici, tu ne serais pas
mort. Mort ! terrible et unique pensée de ta sœur.

Le 20. — Hier allée à Cahuzac entendre la messe pour toi en

union de celle que le prince de Hohenlohe offrait en Allemagne pour
demander à Dieu ta guérison, hélas ! demandée trop tard. Quinze
jours après ta mort, la réponse est venue m’apporter douleurs au
lieu d’espérance. Que de regrets de n’avoir pas pensé plus tôt à ce
moyen de salut, qui en a sauvé tant d’autres ! C’est sur des faits bien
établis que j’avais eu recours au saint thaumaturge, et je croyais tant
au miracle ! Mon Dieu, j’y crois encore, j’y crois en pleurant. Maurice,
un torrent de tristesse m’a passé sur l’âme aujourd’hui. Chaque jour
agrandit ta perte, agrandit mon cœur pour les regrets. Seule dans le
bois avec mon père, nous nous sommes assis à l’ombre, parlant de
toi. Je regardais l’endroit où tu vins t’asseoir il y a deux ans, le
premier jour, je crois, où tu fis quelques pas dehors. Oh ! quel
souvenir de maladie et de guérison ! Je suis triste à la mort. Je
voudrais te voir. Je prie Dieu à tout moment de me faire cette grâce.
Ce ciel, ce ciel des âmes, est-il si loin de nous, le ciel du temps de
celui de l’éternité ? O profondeur ! ô mystères de l’autre vie qui nous
sépare ! Moi qui étais si en peine sur lui, qui cherchais tant à tout
savoir, où qu’il soit maintenant, c’est fini. Je le suis dans les trois
demeures, je m’arrête aux délices, je passe aux souffrances, aux
gouffres de feu. Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, non ! Que mon frère ne soit
pas là, qu’il n’y soit pas ! Il n’y est pas ; son âme, l’âme de Maurice
parmi les réprouvés… Horrible crainte, non ! Mais au purgatoire où
l’on souffre, où s’expient les faiblesses du cœur, les doutes de l’âme,
les demi-volontés au mal. Peut-être mon frère est là qui souffre et
nous appelle dans les gémissements comme il faisait dans les
souffrances du corps : « Soulagez-moi, vous qui m’aimez. » Oui,
mon ami, par la prière. Je vais prier ; je l’ai tant fait et le ferai
toujours. Des prières, oh ! des prières pour les morts, c’est la rosée
du purgatoire.
Sophie m’a écrit, cette Sophie, amie de Marie, qui m’aime en elle
et vient me consoler. Mais rien d’humain ne console. Je voudrais
aller en Afrique porter ma vie à quelqu’un, m’employer au salut des
Arabes dans l’établissement de Mme Vialar. Mes jours ne me
sembleraient pas vides, inutiles comme ils sont. Cette idée de cloître
qui s’en était allée, qui s’était retirée devant toi, me revient.
Le rosier, le petit rosier des Coques, a fleuri. Que de tristesses,
de craintes, de souvenirs épanouis avec ces fleurs, renfermés dans
ce vase donné par Marie, emporté dans notre voyage, avec nous
dans la voiture de Tours à Bordeaux, de là ici ! Ce rosier te faisait
plaisir ; tu te plaisais à le voir, à penser d’où il venait. Je voyais cela
et comme étaient jolis ces petits boutons et cette petite verdure.

Le 22. — Mis au doigt la bague antique que tu avais prise et mise

ici il y a deux ans, cette bague qui nous avait tant de fois fait rire
quand je te disais : « Et la bague ? » Oh ! qu’elle m’est triste à voir et
que je l’aime ! Mon ami, tout m’est relique de toi.
La mort nous revêtira de toute chose. Consolante parole que je
viens de méditer, qui me revêt le cœur d’espérance, ce pauvre cœur
dépouillé.
Comme j’aime ses lettres, ces lettres qui ne viennent pas ! Mon
Dieu, recevez ce que j’en souffre et toutes les douleurs de cette
affection. Voilà que cette âme m’attriste, que son salut m’inquiète,
que je souffrirais le martyre pour lui mériter le ciel. Exaucez, mon
Dieu, mes prières : éclairez, attirez, touchez cette âme si faite pour
vous connaître et vous servir ! Oh ! quelle douleur de voir s’égarer de
si belles intelligences, de si nobles créatures, des êtres formés avec
tant de faveur, où Dieu semble avoir mis toutes ses complaisances
comme en des fils bien-aimés, les mieux faits à son image ! Ah !
qu’ils sont à plaindre ! que mon âme souvent les pleure avec Jésus
venu pour les sauver ! Je voudrais le salut de tous, que tous profitent
de la rédemption qui s’étend à tout le genre humain. Mais le cœur a
ses élus, et pour ceux-là on a cent fois plus de désirs et de crainte.
Cela n’est pas défendu. Jésus, n’aviez-vous pas votre Jean bien-
aimé, dont les apôtres disaient que, par amour, vous feriez qu’il ne
mourrait pas ? Faites qu’ils vivent toujours, ceux que j’aime, qu’ils
vivent de la vie éternelle ! Oh ! c’est pour cela, pas pour ici que je les
aime. A peine, hélas ! si l’on s’y voit. Je n’ai fait que l’apercevoir ;
mais l’âme reste dans l’âme.
 Le 25. — Tristesse et communion ; pleuré en Dieu ; écrit à ton
ami ; lu Pascal, l’étonnant penseur. J’ai recueilli cette pensée sur
l’amour de Dieu, qu’on aime sans le connaître : Le cœur a ses
raisons que la raison ne comprend pas. Bien souvent j’ai senti cela.

Le 26. — Quelques gouttes de pluie sur la terre ardente. Peut-

être orage ce soir, ramassé par ces vapeurs. Qu’il tonne, qu’il passe
des torrents d’eau et de vent ! je voudrais du bruit, des secousses,
tout ce qui n’est pas ce calme affaissant. — Si j’écrivais sa vie, cette
vie si jeune, si riche, si rare, si rattachée à tant d’événements, à tant
d’intérêts, à tant de cœurs ! peu de vies semblables.

Le 27. — Je ne sais, sans mon père, j’irais peut-être joindre les

sœurs de Saint-Joseph, à Alger. Au moins ma vie serait utile. Qu’en
faire à présent ? Je l’avais mise en toi, pauvre frère ! Tu me disais de
ne pas te quitter. En effet, je suis bien demeurée près de toi pour te
voir mourir. Un ecce homo, l’homme de douleur, tous les autres
derrière celui-là. Souffrances de Jésus, saints désirs de la mort,
uniques pensées et méditations. Écrit à Louise comme à Marie ; il
fait bon écrire à celle-là. Et lui, pourquoi ne pas écrire, ton frère ?
Serait-il mort aussi ? Mon Dieu, que le silence m’effraye à présent :
pardonnez-moi tout ce qui me fait peur. L’âme qui vous est unie,
qu’a-t-elle à craindre ? Ne vous aimerais-je pas, mon Dieu, unique et
véritable et éternel amour ? Il me semble que je vous aime, comme
disait le timide Pierre, mais pas comme Jean, qui s’endormait sur
votre cœur. Divin repos qui me manque ! Que vais-je chercher dans
les créatures ? Me faire un oreiller d’une poitrine humaine, hélas ! j’ai
vu comme la mort nous l’ôte. Plutôt m’appuyer, Jésus, sur votre
couronne d’épines.

Le 28. — Saint Augustin aujourd’hui, ce saint qui pleurait si

tendrement son ami et d’avoir aimé Dieu si tard. Que je n’aie pas
ces deux regrets : oh ! que je n’aie pas cette douleur à deux
tranchants, qui me fendrait l’âme à la mort ! Mourir sans amour, c’est
mourir en enfer. Amour divin, seul véritable. Les autres ne sont que
des ombres.
Accablement, poids de douleurs ; essayons de soulever ce mont
de tristesse. Que faire ? Oh, que l’âme est ignorante ! Il faut
s’attacher à Dieu, à celui qui soulève et le vaisseau et la mer. Pauvre
nacelle, que je suis sur un océan de larmes !
Recueillir chaque jour une pensée. Voici celle d’aujourd’hui :
« C’est une chose horrible de sentir continuellement s’écouler ce
qu’on possède et qu’on puisse s’y attacher, sans avoir envie de
chercher s’il n’y a point quelque chose de permanent. » — Beaucoup
lu, soigné de petits oiseaux qu’on a apportés, sans goût, par pitié,
toutes mes affections mortes ; toutes, hormis celle que la mort m’a
prise.

Le 29. — L’homme est un roseau pensant.

Le 30. — Qu’il faisait bon ce matin dans la vigne, cette vigne aux
raisins-chasselas que tu aimais ! En m’y voyant, en mettant le pied
où tu l’avais mis, la tristesse m’a rempli l’âme. Je me suis assise à
l’ombre d’un cerisier, et là, pensant au passé, j’ai pleuré. Tout était
vert, frais, doré de soleil, admirable à voir. Ces approches d’automne
sont belles, la température adoucie, le ciel plus nuagé, des teintes
de deuil qui commencent. Tout cela, je l’aime, je m’en savoure l’œil,
m’en pénètre jusqu’au cœur, qui tourne aux larmes. Vu seule, c’est
si triste ! Toi, tu vois le ciel ! Oh ! je ne te plains pas. L’âme doit
goûter d’ineffables ravissements,

Se plongeant dans l’extase où fut l’aveugle-né

Quand le jour apparut à son œil étonné.
 Le 31. — Quelle différence de ce que je dis à ce que je dirais s’il
vivait ! Mon Dieu, tout est changé en moi et hors de moi : la mort
étend quelque chose de noir sur toutes choses. — Écrit à Misy sur la
mort de son oncle Jules de Roquefeuil, disparu tout jeune de ce
monde. De tous côtés, des tombes s’ouvrent.
« Cet étrange secret dans lequel Dieu s’est retiré, impénétrable à
la vue de l’homme, est une grande leçon pour nous porter à la
solitude loin de la vue des hommes. »
« L’homme est ainsi fait qu’à force de lui dire qu’il est un sot, il le
croit ; et à force de se le dire à soi-même, on le croit… »
« … Dieu a créé l’homme avec deux amours : l’un pour Dieu,
l’autre pour soi-même… Le péché étant arrivé, l’homme a perdu le
premier de ces amours ; et l’amour pour soi-même étant resté seul
dans cette grande âme capable d’un amour infini, cet amour-propre
s’est étendu et débordé dans le vide que l’amour de Dieu a
laissé [30] . »
[30] Pascal, Pensées ; Lettre sur la mort de son père.

Il pleut ; cette pluie, qui reverdit prés et bois, tombe sur la terre
qui te couvre et dissout tes restes au cimetière, là-bas, à Andillac.
Qu’on est heureux de penser qu’il y a dans l’homme quelque chose
que n’atteint pas la destruction !
« Il est des créatures que vous retirez de ce monde pour de
légères faiblesses ; c’est par amour et pour leur sauver de nouvelles
chutes. » — Si on ne savait que cette pensée est de Shakspeare, on
la croirait de Fénelon. Oh ! je sais à qui je l’applique.

Le 5 septembre. — Une lettre de Marie, la triste Marie, qui récite

tous les jours l’office des morts. Ainsi le cœur de la femme : même
en se tournant vers Dieu, il regarde ses affections.
 Le 9. — Le découragement me prend pour tout dans la vie. Je ne
continuerai pas d’écrire. A quoi bon ce mémorandum ? Pourquoi ?
puisque ce ne peut être pour lui ! Quand il vivait, j’avais en lui mon
soutien ; j’avais mon plaisir dans la pensée de lui faire plaisir. —
Cela ôté, que reste-t-il à ces distractions humaines, lectures,
pensées, poésie ? rien que leur valeur, qui n’est rien.
Écrit à Marie, autre poésie vivante encore. Je lui dis : « Croyez
que vous êtes aimée du cœur le plus mort. »

Le 25. — Encore à Marie.

Le 30. — A mon frère de Paris, le frère de celui de la tombe.

Plus d’écriture ici, plus de pensées ; l’illusion n’est plus possible ;
à chaque mot, à chaque ligne, je vois qu’il ne me lira pas. Mon Dieu,
j’avais tant l’habitude de lui tout dire ; je l’aimais tant ! « Le plus grand
malheur de la vie, c’est d’en rompre les relations. » Oh ! que
j’éprouve la vérité de ces mots, qui m’avaient frappée dans un livre
aux Coques.
J’ai besoin du Ciel.
Ce n’est pas pour rien que nous nous serons rencontrés dans la
vie. Je tâcherai, mon Dieu, de les tourner vers vous.

Je voudrais que le ciel fût tout tendu de noir,

Et qu’un bois de cyprès vînt à couvrir la terre ;
Que le jour ne fût plus qu’un soir.

Une gazelle errante

S’abrite en cette tour,
Et l’hirondelle y chante,
Y chante nuit et jour.
 Le 3 octobre. — Écrit à Paris. Oh ! quel jour anniversaire de mon
départ l’an dernier ! — Dirai-je ici tous les souvenirs qui me viennent,
larmes, regrets, passé perdu, sitôt changé en deuil ? — Mon cœur
est plein, il veut pleurer. — Maurice, Maurice, n’est-ce pas vrai, les
pressentiments ? Quand je pense à ceux qui me tourmentaient dans
la route et à Paris et le jour de la noce, et qui se sont accomplis ! Je
rêvais mort ; je ne voyais que draperies mortuaires dans ce Salon où
l’on dansait, où je dansais dans ma tristesse, car je voulais écarter
ces pensées.
N’est-ce pas temps perdu que de rappeler ces choses, mon
Dieu ! Je suis seule devant vous : je pourrais mieux faire que de
m’affliger. N’êtes-vous pas là pour mon espérance, pour ma
consolation, pour me faire voir un monde meilleur où est mon frère ?

Le 4. — Je voulais envoyer à son ami deux grenades du

grenadier dont il a travaillé le pied quelques jours avant sa mort. Ce
fut son dernier mouvement sur la terre.

Le 6. — A l’heure qu’il est, midi, premier dimanche d’octobre,

j’étais à Paris, j’étais dans ses bras, place Notre-Dame-des-
Victoires. Un an passé, mon Dieu ! — Que je fus frappée de sa
maigreur, de sa toux, moi qui l’avais rêvé mort dans la route ! —
Nous allâmes ensemble à Saint-Sulpice à la messe à une heure.
Aujourd’hui à Lentin, dans la pluie, les poignants souvenirs et la
solitude… Mais, mon âme, apaise-toi avec ton Dieu que tu as reçu
dans cette petite église. C’est ton frère, ton ami, le bien-aimé
souverain que tu ne verras pas mourir, qui ne te manquera jamais ni
en cette vie ni en l’autre. Consolons-nous dans cette espérance, et
qu’en Dieu on retrouve tout ce qu’on a perdu. Si je pouvais m’en
aller en haut ; si je trouvais dans ma poitrine ce souffle qui vient le
dernier, ce souffle des mourants qui porte l’âme au ciel, oh ! je
n’aurais pas beaucoup de regrets à la vie. Mais la vie c’est une
épreuve, et la mienne est-elle assez longue ; ai-je assez souffert ?
Quand on se porte au Calvaire, on voit ce que coûte le ciel. Oh ! bien
des larmes, des déchirements, des épines, du fiel et du vinaigre. Ai-
je goûté de tout cela ? Mon Dieu, ôtez-moi la plainte, soutenez-moi
dans le silence et la résignation au pied de la Croix, avec Marie et
les femmes qui vous aimèrent.

Le 19. — Trois mois aujourd’hui de cette mort, de cette

séparation. Oh ! la douloureuse date, que néanmoins je veux écrire
chaque fois qu’elle reviendra. Il y a pour moi une si attachante
tristesse dans ce retour du 19, que je ne puis le voir sans le marquer
dans ma vie, puisque je note ma vie. Eh ! qu’y mettrais-je
maintenant, si je n’y mettais mes larmes, mes souvenirs, mes
regrets de ce que j’ai le plus aimé ? C’est tout ce qui vous viendra, ô
vous qui voulez que je continue ces cahiers, mon tous les jours au
Cayla. J’allais cesser de le faire, il y avait trop d’amertume à lui
parler dans la tombe ; mais puisque vous êtes là, frère vivant, et
avez plaisir de m’entendre, je continue ma causerie intime ; je
rattache à vous ce qui restait là, tombé brisé par la mort. J’écrirai
pour vous comme j’écrivais pour lui. Vous êtes mon frère d’adoption,
mon frère de cœur. Il y a là-dedans illusion et réalité, consolation et
tristesse : Maurice partout. C’est donc aujourd’hui 19 octobre que je
date pour vous et que je marque ce jour comme une époque dans
ma vie, ma vie d’isolement, de solitude, d’inconnue qui s’en va vers
quelqu’un du monde, vers vous à Paris, comme à peu près, je vous
l’ai dit, je crois, si Eustoquie, de son désert de Bethléem, eût écrit à
quelque élégant chevalier romain. Le contraste est piquant, mais ne
m’étonne pas. Quelqu’un, une femme, me disait qu’à ma place elle
serait bien embarrassée pour vous écrire. Moi, je ne comprends pas
pourquoi je le serais. Rien ne me gêne avec vous. En vérité, pas
plus qu’avec Maurice, vous m’êtes lui au cœur et à l’intelligence.
C’est à ce point de vue que se met notre intimité.

Le 20. — La belle matinée d’automne ! Un air transparent, un

lever du jour radieusement calme, des nuages en monceaux, du
nord au midi, des nuages d’un éclat, d’une couleur molle et vive, du
coton d’or sur un ciel bleu. C’était beau, c’était beau ! Je regrettais
d’être seule à le voir. J’ai pensé à notre peintre et ami, M. Augier, lui
qui sent si bien et prend sitôt le beau dans son âme d’artiste. Et puis
Maurice et puis vous, je vous aurais voulu voir tous sous mon ciel du
Cayla ; mais devons-nous nous rencontrer jamais plus sur la terre !
En allant au Pausadou, j’ai voulu prendre une fleur très-jolie. Je
l’ai laissée pour le retour, et j’ai passé par un autre chemin. Adieu
ma fleur. Quand j’y reviendrais, où serait-elle ? Une autre fois je ne
laisserai pas mes fleurs en chemin. Que de fois cependant cela
n’arrive-t-il pas dans la vie ?
Dimanche aujourd’hui. Revu à Andillac cette tombe toute
verdoyante d’herbe. Comme c’est venu vite, ces plantes ! Comme la
vie se hâte sur la mort, et que c’est triste à notre vue ! Que ce serait
désolant, sans la foi qui nous dit que nous devons renaître, sortir de
ces cimetières où nous semblons disparus !

Le 21. — Tonnerre, orage, tempête au dehors, mais calme au

dedans, ce calme d’une mer morte, qui a sa souffrance aussi bien
que l’agitation. Le repos n’est bon qu’en Dieu, ce repos des âmes
saintes qui, avant la mort, sont sorties de la vie. Heureux
dégagement ! Je meurs d’envie de tout ce qui est céleste : c’est
qu’ici-bas tout est vil et porte un poids de terre.
Lu quelques pages d’un voyage en Espagne. Singulier peuple de
brigands et de moines. Les moines sont tombés, que reste-t-il
maintenant ? Nous le voyons, des égorgeurs, Don Carlos à Bourges,
l’héritier de Ferdinand le Catholique mis hors du trône et du
royaume, prisonnier en France. Cette lecture m’intéresse. C’est
l’élégant journal d’un voyageur aimable, qui cause en courant, et
peint, avec le bon ton et la grâce d’esprit d’un homme du monde,
tout ce qu’il rencontre. Les lourdes descriptions m’assomment.
J’aime aussi M. de Custine, qui m’amuse, quoiqu’il soit parfois un
peu long ; mais c’est comme la longueur d’un bal. Puis il vient si peu
de livres au Cayla, que, pour peu qu’ils puissent plaire, ils plaisent
beaucoup.
 Le 22. — Une lettre de Marie, de Marie ma sœur, qui m’a quittée
pour quelques jours avec Érembert. Me voici seule avec mon père.
Que notre famille est réduite, et je tremble en pensant que le cercle
peut encore se rétrécir !
Lu quelques passages des Saints Désirs de la Mort, livre
pieusement spirituel que j’aime, lecture qui porte au ciel. J’en ai
besoin pour mon âme qui tombe, qui s’affaisse sous le poids de la
vie. On peut se distraire dans le monde, mais les choses seules de
la foi soutiennent. Que je plains les âmes tristes qui ne savent pas
cela, ou ne le veulent pas croire ! J’en ai tant parlé à Maurice ; j’en
parle à tout ce que j’aime, des choses de l’éternité ; car, voyez-vous,
je n’aime pas pour ce monde, ce n’est pas la peine : c’est le ciel le
lieu de l’amour.

Le 24. — Lecture, ni écriture, ni prière ne peuvent empêcher les

larmes aujourd’hui. Mon pauvre Maurice ! Je me suis mise à penser
à tout ce qu’il a souffert, physiquement et dans l’âme, les derniers
temps de sa vie. Que cette vue est déchirante ! Mon Dieu, ne
l’aurez-vous pas soutenu ?

[Le 27.] — Nulle envie d’écrire depuis deux jours. Si je reprends

la plume aujourd’hui, c’est qu’en ouvrant mon portefeuille vert, j’ai vu
ce cahier et j’y mets que mon père vient de me remettre un paquet
de lettres de son cher Maurice, et de ses cheveux, pour les
renfermer, ces précieux restes, avec les autres que j’ai. O
enterrement ! Écrirai-je ce que je sens, ce que je pense, ce que je
souffre ? Je n’écris pas : je ne parlerais que du ciel et d’une tombe,
de ces choses qui ne doivent se dire qu’à Dieu.

Le 1er novembre. — Quel anniversaire ! J’étais à Paris, assise

seule dans le salon devant une table, pensant, comme à présent, à
cette fête des Saints. Il vint, Maurice, me trouver, causer un peu