As we begin to think about Jiang Zemin's legacy, I thought I'd share a few anecdotes about him that suggest a very complicated individual that does not sit comfortably on the "left" and "right" spectrum.
Mao’s former secretary Li Rui helped Jiang’s career. When Chen Yun tried to arrange for his son to go work at Jiang’s ministry, Jiang sought advice from Li, who suggested that Jiang pretend he did not understand what Chen wanted.
Jiang felt very vulnerable in his new position, even asking one old mentor, "Just how deep are the waters of Zhongnanhai?"
My social media timeline is full of reminiscence of Jiang Zemin:how open&hopeful the Jiang era was; what a fun leader he was; how open-minded he was about western culture. I'll say this: Jiang is the George W. Bush of China. People are nostalgic because they really don't like Xi
2 differences between Hu's death in '89 & Jiang's in '22:
- Beijing students were already organized/planning demonstrations before Hu's death, it simply accelerated their timeline
- Hu's purge in '87 made him perfect symbol while Jiang died in good Party standing
I think the over the top hagiography of Jiang we are seeing is likely part of an effort to maintain Jiang as a Party symbol, not a popular one.
The same happened to Li Wenliang. Party media posthumously stressed Li's Party membership in an effort to wrest control over narrative
There is some speculation on how the state will respond to recent contentious events in China. The state conceptualizes these as "sudden public incidents" 突发公共事件. Detailed contingency plans exist at every level, instructing authorities how they should respond. A brief 🧵
#China cyber watchdog announces new rule: liking an online post is defined as commenting as of Dec 15. Chinese media interpret rule change to mean those liking a post deemed as “harmful information” can also be held responsible for the original comment.
A thread here for those who don't understand why the China protests over the weekend protests are so shockingly rare.
Surveillance. In. China. Is. Extreme. Think you could evade Chinese police? Let's walk through it:
File this one as speculative:
Same guy:
New paid subscriber bonus feature! I’m taking an hour off the news tonight to check out Warzone 2.0. Let me know if you’re logging in tonight and we can try to group up.
