The Party's Interests Come First

Joseph Torigian is Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University and a Research Fellow at the Hoover History Lab at Stanford University.

Map 1. The Partys Interests Come First PART I THE PARTYS "FOOTHOLD": The Shaanxi Years 2. The Young Wanderer 3. Who Saved Whom: The Rise of the Base Areas and the Arrival of Mao 4. The Yanan Era 5. Love and Revolution 6. War on the Nationalists and the Peasants PART II BUILDING THE NEW REGIME 7. King of the Northwest 8. Political Means, with Military Force as a Supplement: Ethnic Minorities in the Northwest 9. Ideology and Power Politics in the Beijing of the Early Peoples Republic 10. The Perils of Intimacy at Home and Abroad 11. "Military Suppression Combined with Political Struggle": The Radicalization of Ethnic and Religious Policy 12. Home Life in the Capital PART III CATASTROPHE 13. The Great Leap Forward 14. Liu Zhidan 15. The Cultural Revolution 16. The Xi Family Slowly Rebuilds PART IV THE PARTYS "LAUNCHPAD": The Guangdong Years 17. Facing the Consequences of the Cultural Revolution 18. Blazing a Bloody Trail 19. Opening to the West PART V TRYING TO SAVE THE REVOLUTION 20. A New Order at the Secretariat and the National Peoples Congress 21. Princeling Politics 22. The United Front Restored and Restrained 23. A New Era in Ethnic and Religious Affairs 24. "Things Were Going So Well!" 25. Xi and the Fate of Global Communism PART VI CATASTROPHE AGAIN 26. "It Is Necessary to Also Have a Spiritual Civilization!" 27. The Deep Waters of Zhongnanhai 28. Tiananmen Square 29. The Final Years 30. Fathers and Sons Acknowledgments Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

"Joseph Torigian, a young scholar of both Communist Chinese and Soviet politics, has written a masterly biography of Xi Zhongxun, the father of Chinas present-day president, Xi Jinping. The Partys Interests Come First is a scrupulously researched and keenly perceptive account of an important but, in the West, little-known historical figure."

—Robert B. Zoellick, The Wall Street Journal



"This could easily end up as one of the twenty or thirty best biographies of all time.... It is a book about party history, and the life of its subject, Xi Zhongxun, is itself a story about the politically explosive nature of competing versions of the past."

—Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution



"Joseph Torigian... contributes greatly to our understanding of China. The book, deeply researched, tells the story of a man torn between his humanity and his loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, offering insights into the partys workings and the human suffering that shaped his sons governing style and conception of power."

—Li Yuan, New York Times



"Riveting.... What is striking about The Partys Interests Come First is the books emphasis on understanding the emotional life of the elder Xi (in addition to its extensive archival research), and how a lifetime of enduring immense psychological pain and personal tragedy shaped the fathers political convictions and may have sharpened those of his son [Xi Jinping.]"

—Emily Feng, NPR



"This brilliant biography of Xi Zhongxun, revolutionary politician and father of Chinas current leader, reveals the human dramas and intrigue behind the curtain in Chinese politics. Joseph Torigian is a prodigious researcher whose interviews with the Dalai Lama and others are worth the price of the book. A vividly written page-turner and a major scholarly accomplishment."

—Susan Shirk, University of California, San Diego



"Joseph Torigians trademark indefatigable pursuit of detailed information illuminates Xi Zhongxuns experience in working under Mao and Deng in a party culture that leadership should vest in a core leader who would have to be obeyed, and where no significant force stood up to either of them. This mammoth study provides much to reflect on continuities from Mao to Xi Jinping through Deng."

—Frederick C. Teiwes, University of Sydney



"In China today, people often ask the question: how could Xi Zhongxun have had a son like this? The son in question is Chinas current president and Communist Party boss, Xi Jinping. Joseph Torigians biography of Xi Zhongxun addresses this question only in its final chapter, but his rich and densely documented study of the fathers life and career from the 1930s through the Tiananmen incident of 1989 is important in its own right—as an account of Xi Zhongxuns unshakable dedication to the Party and the revolution. Xi paid an enormous personal and political price for this dedication, but he remained loyal to the end. Torigians fine study pays careful attention to Xis personal and political life, and to the complex and ever-changing dynamics of politics in Chinas capital, adding important new texture to our understanding of Chinas political elite under Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and now Xi Jinping."

—Joseph W. Esherick, University of California, San Diego



"A fascinating dive into the contradictions and internal struggles that defined the life of one of the Chinese Communist Partys leading figures. Rich in detail and light on grand pronouncements, Torigians book illuminates the complexity and tension inherent in Chinese leaders efforts to define and remain loyal to the party against stiff and constantly changing political winds."

—Jessica Chen Weiss, Johns Hopkins University



"A towering achievement and required reading for those interested in China. Through exhaustive research and forensic detail, Joseph Torigian tells the gripping story of the man whose son now leads China and the party he helped build. Fascinating, revealing, and easily one of the best books on China in years."

—Rush Doshi, Georgetown University



"Fascinating.... One of the easiest to read, most gripping doorstoppers Ive ever had the pleasure of reading."

—Jeremy Goldkorn, ChinaFile



"[The Partys Interests Come First is a] state-of-the-art [analysis] of [a] senior Chinese [leader], commendable for [its] wide-ranging use of sources and attention to detail."

—Ian Johnson, New York Review of Books



"Sweeping and scrupulous"

—John Batchelor, The John Batchelor Show



"The book is valuable not only for its portrait of its subject [Xi Zhongxun]—who was a major figure in the partys history in his own right—but also for its insights into his progeny [Xi Jinping], now the supreme leader. The worldview [Xi Jinping] learned from his father will affect not only 1.4bn Chinese people, but the whole of humanity."

—The Economist



"The Partys Interests Come First provides a fascinating study of one mans life and legacy inside a political organization that often seemed to subsume individuals but was also constantly reshaped by their influence and the repercussions of their actions."

—Maura Elizabeth Cunningham, The Wandering Life



"Chinese history aficionados will find plenty of detail packed into The Partys Interests Come First."

—Lucy Hornby, Foreign Policy



"The Partys Interests Come First is a colossal achievement of a biography. It is incredibly well researched, with around a thousand sources listed in its bibliography and a litany of notes. But this is far more than just an academic tome. The prose flows well and Torigian makes Xi Zhongxuns important but complex and nuanced life highly accessible. This will be a biography referenced for many years to come."

—Sam Olsen, States of Play



"This book is an extraordinary work of scholarship.... Perhaps above all else, The Partys Interests Come First is a study in the nature of political power – what it means to have it, the complexities and fallibility of those who wield it, and how quickly it can slip away."

—Katie Stallard, The New Statesman



"The Partys Interests Come First is indispensable reading for anyone who wants to know what may drive Xi Jinping, Chinas most powerful leader since Mao."

—Kathrin Hille, Financial Times



"The Partys Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping is now finally out, and it has proven well worth the wait.... The book reads like a Cold War thriller."

—Susan Blumberg-Kason, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal



"This biography gives me a feel for Chinese politics that I honestly thought Id never have. It does an incredible job of digging deep to shed light on some of the most consequential moments in CCP history, as well as conveying what it was like to live as a senior official under Mao and Deng. Reading it was a powerful experience at both an intellectual and human level."

—Jordan Schneider, ChinaTalk