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This was the third episode of the China Challenge. It was an interesting discussion on the politics of Xi Jinping and the direction he’s taken China into. It was an illuminating discussion on the pitfalls of Jinpingism. Given the international and domestic tensions confronting China, the immediate future of the country will be unstable. That is emerging very clearly.
Caught this interesting documentary about Mao’s rise to power. It came out in 1967. As I watched it it seemed quite familiar to the present day.
If we ask the question how long did Maoism survive?
As a revolutionary leader. It took 30 years. 1920-1950 for him to get there. After which another 25 years until his death. It lasted that long because he won the country. XJP has no such credentials.
An interesting aside about how Chang Kaishek lost, many reasons but one I was unaware of was the hyperinflation between 1946 and 1948 in China
Aug 1946 it required 60,000 yuan for $1 USD
Sept 1948 it required 20 million yuan for $1 USD
The middle class which was Chang’s main support base was wiped out.
There is one epic quote by Theodore White in this documentary which I think applies to the XJP era
We don’t know who does what to who in Peking.
We don’t know how they think or how they make up their mind because no matter how hard we study China
– we cannot predict such a thing as the Great leap forward in 1958
– we cannot predict such a thing as the Red Guard purge in 1966
It’s as if there was a struggle of sea monsters going on deep beneath the surface of our vision and only these bubbles come to the surface to tell us these are terrible struggles but we don’t know what they’re struggling about.
I wonder how much we have improved in the 50+ years passed since that quote was made.
see my latest article
Here’s another at the end and it’s prophetic it was said back in 1967
Yet if the Chinese mind craves order they must be brought to recognize they are the biggest factor in the world’s disorder and we must untangle the madness of their mind.
The most difficult task in the world is to reach the minds of men who hate you. We do not flinch from the immediate tasks to guard our skies, or defend our friends, we cannot flinch from tomorrow’s task to reach the mind of China
We race today to reach the moon, to reach that mind is a task of equal difficulty and far greater urgency.
Gunners Shot 
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