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Worth watching: young Xi Jinping interview as PS of Zhejiang. Reminisces about his time as smoking and working in rural Xi'an, where he apparently lived in a cave for a while. The guy definitely has political skills:
Interesting anecdotes about how he was the only one smiling when he got on train in '69 as sent down youth. Everyone else was crying, but Xi was smiling because he wanted to escape the intense CR politics of Beijing, and this was his ticket out.
Also good story about rumor at the time that he was wasting food by feeding it to a dog. It was old stale bread that he fed to a dog, but the locals had never seen bread before. So they were criticizing these spoiled city folks who would just waste bread.
He also admitted that he was a bit lazier than his compatriot youth and didn't do as much work. He'd be really tired and winded after hiking up mountains so he'd just rest.
Apparently he also learned to smoke at the time because you weren't allowed breaks unless you took a smoking break. So he and others just went to smoke.
Told a funny story about how when they first got to countryside, they were so weak and out of shape that they only got 6 points, the same as the girls. They eventually got stronger and could do the manual labor and got 10 points.
Also that he was known as the storyteller, all the kids wanted to hear stories about Beijing life and what America was like. They were curious about classics like Three Kingdoms and Dream of the Red Chamber. So Xi told them all these stories every night.
He talks about how he got shit all over his face when they were trying to get some newly discovered gas out of the ground (guessing it was like methane). He had read about this new gas thing in People's Daily.
Xi gets visibly emotional recounting they day of his departure after 7 years in Liangjiahe. Even though he slept in that day, the locals were all waiting outside quietly for hours for him to get up to bid adieu. He kinda chokes up at that point.
Folks, this is the guy running China, and these are the experiences that shaped him early on and which seemed to have had a lasting impact on his life and career. Some would argue that survivors of the CR may be China's "Greatest Generation."
