Who Is Xi Jinping?

This appeared in The Millennial Source

On November 12, 2012, Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the highest-ranking position in China. Five months later, on March 14, 2013, Xi also took on the title of President of the People’s Republic of China.

In less than a decade as president, Xi has become a figure that inspires mixed responses around the globe. Some respect his leadership while others deride his party’s strict control over the internet as authoritarian.

With China firmly established as one of the biggest players in global politics, Xi’s presence on the world stage is likely to remain prominent for the foreseeable future.

The political ascendancy of Xi Jinping

Xi’s life has been closely tied to China’s Communist Party from the beginning. Born in 1953, his father, Xi Zhongxun, was a leader in the communist revolution of the 1940s during the nation’s civil war. That war would lead Mao Zedong to proclaim the People’s Republic of China, thus establishing modern China as a communist country and Mao as its head of state.

As a teenager in 1969, Xi was part of Mao’s “ Down to the Countryside Movement” which aimed to drive urban, educated youth to farmlands to learn about rural life. That generation…