The rise of Xi Jinping, explained

[audience applause] These are the 7 most powerful men in China. They represent the top leadership positions of the ruling party... and their identities are revealed every five years... at a carefully choreographed political event called the National Congress. “China's Communist Party unveiled its new leadership over the next five years.” The order of appearance is symbolic.

The first person to emerge is the head of the party for the next five years. At the most recent event in October 2022... that person was Xi Jinping China's president for the last ten years... who walked out in the top spot a historic third time after getting rid of China's presidential term limit

that restricted all his predecessors to two terms. A signal that he may be planning to stay in power for life. The world hasn't seen a Chinese leader like this since Mao Zedong... the revolutionary founder of the People's Republic of China... whose ruthless dictatorship scarred the Chinese people for generations. Xi has been compared to Mao a lot.

And he clearly draws from Mao's playbook. But there's something else that connects these two. When Xi was just a young boy... Mao ruined his life. Generations apart, their paths crossed unexpectedly and a teenage Xi from an elite family in Beijing... ended up in exile. Condemned to hard labor in the countryside. 50 years later

Xi is one of the most powerful political figures in the world and the only leader since Mao to have unchecked power over China. So how did he go from being banished in his country... to taking complete control of it? [sinister, electronic music] [music fades] Xi Jinping's connection to Mao formed long before Xi was even born.