A new television series, Xibeisuiyue (The Northwest Years), was released in China. It is dedicated to Xi Zhongxun, the father of President Xi Jinping. This is the first time that a fiction is interested in the life of this revolutionary, traveling companion of Mao Zedong and former member of the political bureau of the Chinese Communist Party. A series which is part of Xi Jinping’s speech on family values, and a form of glorification of his heritage.
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He is the son of a poor farmer, tireless party builder, fervent revolutionary… “ I am the Secretary of the Party Workers and People of the Fifth Stronghold, the Red Army Guerrilla in Shaanxi and Gansu. My name is Xi Zhongxun “, proclaims on screen the one who plays the father of the current president of the China.
The 40 episodes of Xibeisuiyueliterally The Northwest Yearscarefully avoid the most sensitive years of Xi Zhongxun’s life (1913-2002). Those of the conquest of power, very important for the legitimacy of the red princes, these heirs of the first cadres of the Communist Party, including Xi Jinpingson of Xi Zhongxun, is the symbol. “ No matter how difficult and dangerous the road is, I will succeed in passing the flag », Promises the father.
The series glorifies Xi Zhongxun’s courage but ignores the Maoist purge and the 16 years of incarceration and factory work he had to endure. Back in business, he is seen as a defender of a reforming and liberal line, far from that defended by his son today.
Xi Jinping continues with his desire to show himself, him and his familyas the very incarnation of the Chinese Communist Party. For the 110th anniversary of Xi Zhongxun’s birth, Qi Xin, Xi Jinping’s mother, made a rare appearance in a documentary dedicated to her husband entitled Total devotion. The father, the mother, the party and Xi Jinping…