#466 – Jeffrey Wasserstrom: China, Xi Jinping, Trade War, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mao

What It Covers

Historian Jeffrey Wasserstrom examines modern China through Xi Jinping's leadership, comparing him to Mao Zedong, analyzing Confucian influence on governance, discussing Tiananmen Square protests, censorship mechanisms, and current US-China trade tensions within historical context.

Key Questions Answered

• •Personality Cult Comparison: Xi Jinping revives Mao-era personality cult tactics with bookstores displaying his speeches prominently, but differs fundamentally by valuing Confucian order and stability over Mao's preference for chaos and class struggle, creating contradictory ideological foundations within single-party rule.
• •Censorship Three-Pronged Strategy: Margaret Roberts identifies fear (direct bans), friction (making information harder to access through VPNs and slow searches), and flooding (overwhelming media with approved narratives) as China's control mechanisms, with friction being most effective for average citizens rather than outright prohibition.
• •Meritocracy Paradox: Confucian emphasis on education and civil service exams creates intense focus on academic achievement through tests like Gaokao, but nepotism and corruption trigger major protests like Tiananmen 1989 when citizens perceive the system as unfair, violating core cultural values.
• •Brave New World Control: Post-1989 social compact offers citizens consumer choices, entertainment options, and material prosperity in exchange for political compliance, contrasting with Orwellian surveillance in Tibet and Xinjiang, though COVID lockdowns revealed capacity for total control in urban centers like Shanghai.
• •Narrowing Identity Space: Under Xi Jinping since 2012, acceptable expressions of Chinese identity contract significantly, pressuring Mongolian language speakers, Muslims, and Hong Kong residents to conform to singular national vision, reversing post-Tiananmen trend toward civil society diversity and regional autonomy.