Thread by @AngelicaOung

Are we about to see the Cultural Revolution 2.0 in China? This is what YouTube commentator Wen Zhao argues. While Xi has consolidated his power to an almost absolute amount, he still has to pay lip service to the party tradition of “respecting elders” 🧵

People forget Chinese leaders such as Deng Xiaoping and Wen Jiabao were themselves victims of the Cultural Revolution and they were determined not to have another Mao emerge in the CCP. The way Deng did this was provisional, creating a party culture where “elders” remain a force.

Wen Jiabao’s family suffered terribly under the Cultural Revolution. As soon as he became Premier, he was already thinking of how he was going to step down. While a political moderate, the one time he acted with resolute boldness was to take down Bo Xilai.

Bo, a Party Royalty Princeling, was a populist darling and Wen saw the danger. But Xi, despite being far less charismatic, took from the Bo playbook and the consolidation of power around one man that Deng and Wen feared is now accelerating.

The Cultural Revolution, once acknowledged within China as a black mark in domestic history, is now getting whitewashed. Wen recently wrote an article about his mother where he criticized the cultural revolution and threw veiled commentary that China is going the wrong way.

For now, Wen is protected by the party culture of “respecting the elders” passed down by Deng, but for how long? He published his article in Macau. It was soon censored in the rest of China. Most other ”elders” stay silent, knowing their offsprings‘s fortunes depends on it.

Wen, however, seems to be using whatever political capital he has while he still has it to push back against the new Red Guard. Moderate forces like Wen are the last bulwark against Xi creating what Wen Zhao calls “a black hole of power” in China.

I should say here, I don’t know much about CCP court intrigue so this is just my digest of the YouTube video. I do not vouch for its correctness, and apologize in advance for any mistakes introduced by my misunderstanding. But it’s an important topic I didn’t want to skip. 🧵