{"id":27184,"date":"2022-01-05T11:35:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T00:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/?page_id=27184"},"modified":"2025-11-06T08:54:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:54:17","slug":"xi-jinpings-empire-of-tedium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/xi-jinpings-empire-of-tedium\/","title":{"rendered":"Xi Jinping\u2019s Empire of Tedium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u7121\u5948\u7684\u6c5f\u5c71<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is five years since we announced the launching of China Heritage<\/em> at the end of a speech titled Living with Xi Dada\u2019s China \u2014 Making Choices and Cutting Deals<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0published A Monkey King\u2019s Journey to the East<\/a>, the inaugural article in\u00a0our online journal. It is also ten years since the irresistible rise of Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

We mark this occasion, and the beginning of the end of Xi Jinping’s first decennary as head of China’s party-state-army, with Xi Jinping\u2019s Empire of Tedium<\/em>, a series\u00a0written and published online in the Wairarapa, on the southern tip of Te Ika-a-M\u0101ui, the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Xi Jinping\u2019s Empire of Tedium<\/em> is the theme of\u00a0China Heritage Annual 2022<\/em>. This material is also included in Readings in New Sinology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Geremie R. Barm\u00e9,\u00a0Editor, China Heritage<\/em>
\nDistinguished Fellow,\u00a0The Asia Society
\n1 January 2022<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\n

Announcements & Updates<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Due to the volume of material in the series, Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium<\/em> is extended through the calendar year of 2023. See\u00a0\u9670\u9b42\u4e0d\u6563 \u2014 Tedium Continued \u2014 Mao more than ever<\/a>, 26 December 2022.<\/p>\n

New work is published in tandem with chapters in\u00a0The Other Chin<\/em>a<\/a>, a series launched on 12 January 2023. A link to this new series can be found under Topics in the menu bar of this site.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Geremie R. Barm\u00e9
\n13 January 2023<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium<\/em> will continue in 2024, with material being added during the year along with the publication of chapters in a new series,\u00a0The Tower of Reading<\/em><\/a> (see under Topics in the menu bar), and The Other China<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

From January 2024, chapters in the series will continue to appear and new material will be published under Supplementary Material.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 The Editor
\n1 January 2024<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Following the electoral victory of Donald J. Trump in the US presidential elections of November 2024, we launched Contra Trump \u2014 America\u2019s Empire of Tedium<\/em><\/a>. That series builds on Spectres & Souls \u2014 China Heritage Annual 2021<\/em><\/a> and offers a running commentary on contemporary America. In the process we note, in the style of Larrikin Sinology, the echoes, parallels and rhymes between the old autocracy of Beijing and the new autocracy in Washington.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 The Editor
\n1 January 2025<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

Communist Chinese politics are a lugubrious merry-go-round \u2026 and in order to appreciate fully the d\u00e9j\u00e0-vu<\/em> quality of its latest convolutions, you would need to have watched it revolve for half a century. The main problem with many of our politicians and pundits is that their memories are too short, thus forever preventing them from putting events and personalities in a true historical perspective.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Simon Leys<\/a>\u00a0quoted in<\/em> Watching China Watching<\/a>
\nChina Heritage, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u2026 those who have sought to be profound about Chinese culture have always had difficulty with tedium.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Lucien W. Pye, <\/em>China Quarterly, December 1967<\/i><\/div>\n\n

***<\/p>\n

Background Reference Material<\/strong><\/h3>\n