Astral Codex Ten

Jiang Zemin

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Jiang Zemin

Article

Jiang Zemin is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 3 times across 3 issues between April 06, 2022 and December 07, 2023. The archive places it in contexts such as “He appointed former Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin as his successor”; “Zeng Qihong, himself a client of Jiang Zemin”; “When Jiang Zemin suddenly took the position of CCP general secretary following the suppression of the Tiananmen movement in 1989”. It most often appears alongside China, Hu Jintao, Barack Obama.

Metadata

  • Category: People
  • Mention count: 3
  • Issue count: 3
  • First seen: April 06, 2022
  • Last seen: December 07, 2023

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Dictator Book Club: Xi Jinping
April 06, 2022 · Original source
Mao Zedong was definitely an autocrat. After his death, everyone backstabbed each other furiously for several years and Deng Xiaoping ended up on top. Deng had absolute power but thought that was bad, so he created lots of institutions that were supposed to prevent future leaders from exercising the control he had, then sort of backed down. He appointed former Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin as his successor. Jiang followed Deng’s anti-absolute-power rules, but he was able to get most of what he wanted anyway. Partly this was because he was a really skilled politician, partly it was because he had a really good secret police force with personal loyalty to him and lots of blackmail on everyone else.
“Toad Worship” is a class of Chinese internet meme where people ironically pretend to admire Jiang Zemin. No, I don’t get it either. When Jiang took power, he filled important positions with his clients. Mostly these were his underlings from Shanghai; they became known as the Shanghai Gang. The Shanghai Gang stuck together and supported its own, and operated kind of as a “political party” “representing” the interests of east coast urban elites.
Inline links: “Toad Worship”
Xi was a loyal Shanghaier. He was the client of Zeng Qihong, himself a client of Jiang Zemin, and had been party secretary in Shanghai. His loyalty to the faction was unimpeachable.
Biography of Jason Shea, 44th US President
April 13, 2022 · Original source
In Fujian, Xi made efforts to attract investment from Taiwan and to strengthen the private sector of the provincial economy. In February 2000, he and then-provincial Party Secretary Chen Mingyi were called before the top members of Central Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP – General Secretary Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, Vice-President Hu Jintao and Discipline Inspection Secretary Wei Jianxing – to explain aspects of the Yuanhua scandal. In 2002, Xi left Fujian and took up leading political positions in neighbouring Zhejiang. He eventually took over as provincial Party Committee Secretary after several months as acting governor, occupying a top provincial office for the first time in his career. In 2002, he was elected a full member of the 16th Central Committee, marking his ascension to the national stage.
What Ever Happened To Neoreaction?
December 07, 2023 · Original source
The early 2010s were good for autocracy. China, recently led by capable yet restrained leaders like Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, looked poised to overtake the West. Putin’s Russia had overcome its post-Soviet chaos and was winning victories abroad. And Dubai had just finished building the world’s tallest skyscraper, right next to the world’s biggest mall, world’s biggest artificial island community, etc.