Image Courtesy: New York Times
C3S Issue Brief: 003/2020
C3S launches its Issue Brief initiative. An issue briefs is a summary of the knowledge surrounding an issue or a problem. It summarises the issue giving clear, concise and complete information describing all facets of a particular issue including a detailed illustration in the form of images, data, and facts. It also includes recommendations for action and predictions on the future course of an issue.
Issue Briefs are available for download as PDFs.
Abstract:
The cult of personality surrounding the People’s Republic of China’s first leader Mao meant that he could rule by decree and stifle any voice of opposition against him. Mao’s reign today is best remembered for the colossal failure of his move to achieve rapid industrialisation and collectivise agriculture through The Great Leap Forward and the shock he let loose in the form of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Blind devotion to a single person held back the country by decades. Since his demise, China has come a long way. The cult of personality was replaced with the convention of collective leadership, ideological orthodoxy jettisoned in favour of market and penury almost eradicated and prosperity ushered in. But one element of Maoist China has reared its head in recent years; a cult of the individual. President Xi Jinping, since he rose to power in early 2013, has deliberately set about decimating any hurdles in his way towards the attainment of supreme and unqualified power. He has also made massive strides in winning popular approval. Ensconced in a position of enormous power, he can make decisions that could have serious and far-reaching implications. This brief studies his personality and policies.
Read the full PDF at this link:
About the Author
Prasanna Aditya A is an intern at Chennai Centre for China Studies. He is pursuing his undergraduate degree in Political Science at Hindu College, Delhi University. Views expressed are personal.
