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Xi Jinping cover art

Xi Jinping

By: Stefan Aust, Adrian Geiges
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Summary

If China seems unstoppable, so too does its leader Xi Jinping. As general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and president of China, he commands over 1.4 billion people, in a vast country that spans the prosperous megacities of Beijing and Shanghai and desperately poor rural regions where families still struggle with malnutrition.

Today, Xi Jinping faces a series of monumental challenges that would make other global leaders tremble: a trade war with the USA, political unrest in Hong Kong, accusations of genocide in Xinjiang, stuttering economic growth, and a devastating global pandemic that originated inside China.

But who is Xi Jinping and what does he really want? To rejuvenate China and bring economic prosperity to all its people? To challenge American supremacy and turn China into the world's dominant power? Avoiding both sycophantic flattery and outright condemnation, this new biography by Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges gets inside the head of one of the world's most mysterious leaders. Skillfully unraveling the hidden story of Xi Jinping's life and career, from his early childhood to his rise to the pinnacles of the Party and the State, they flesh out his views and uncover how he became the most powerful man in the world.

©2022 Polity Press (P)2023 Tantor

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Like a long newspaper article based on meetings with a politician and a few trips to china

Expected more substance - this being a book and requiring more effort than researching a newspaper article. Light and readable stuff otherwise.

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Fascinating and insightful

The story of Xi’s rise and his actions both to achieve that and then to stay in power are deeply revealing of his character and values. As Xi is arguably the most powerful and influential man in the world, having an understanding of what motivates him and what his goals are is essential to have an understanding of much of China’s role in shaping the world we live in. And, as Xi’s steering of Chinese trade and international politics is affecting all of our lives, this is an important book.

The authors tell the story well: it was compelling throughout. Despite my overall enthusiasm about the content and writing, I found the narrator’s delivery to be somewhat robotic: he habitually chooses to end almost every sentence with a distinct falling inflexion. Used with discretion, this can lend gravitas to significant sentences. Used too often, it becomes a meaningless affectation. However, that said, this is one of the most interesting and important books I’ve listened to and I highly recommend it.

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Important topic but feels a bit light

It’s a decent effort from two German journalists. But they seem unsure of who their audience is. Sometimes they pause to explain fairly obvious facts about China, as if they are writing for high school students who hear of the subject matter for the first time. Other times they make only vague references when discussing complex historical contexts.
Like many journalists they also fall for the temptation to write themselves into the story. Seeming quite pleased with themselves when they have managed to secure face to face interviews with important people.
It’s unclear if they did any new research specifically for this book, or whether the book only sums up their past articles and interviews on China.

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