[MercyFlush]

More likely is anyone caught reading the article will be tossed into a prison camp. Mao did something similar when he allowed people to criticize and then knowing who the outspoken critics were he had them rounded up and mostly exterminated.

[Zhang Fei]

[More likely is anyone caught reading the article will be tossed into a prison camp. Mao did something similar when he allowed people to criticize and then knowing who the outspoken critics were he had them rounded up and mostly exterminated.]

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The principal question is whether Xi’s people will obey him or whether they’re just waiting for an opportunity to stab him in the back. Note that when Mao died, he handed power to his widow, Jiang Qing, his de facto successor, and Hua Guofeng, his titular heir. Hua plotted with Deng Xiaoping to oust Jiang Qing, then was himself ousted by Deng. Peng Dehuai, hero of Mao’s Korean War intervention, plotted to sideline Mao as a figurehead, failed and was killed by maltreatment in prison. Lin Biao tried the same gambit, failed and died while fleeing to the Soviet Union. Bottom line? The history of Chinese rulers is one of dangerous subordinates and unpredictable court intrigues.