Xi Jinping is often described as China’s most powerful leader in decades, perhaps even since Mao. He has been credited if sometimes grudgingly with pursuing a vigorous foreign policy, economic reforms, and a historic crackdown on corruption.But as Xi completes his third year in office this month, this judgment seems increasingly mistaken, with China trapped by the same taboos
Following is an edited transcript of a live event hosted at Asia Society New York on May 21, 2015, “ChinaFile Presents: Does Xi Jinping Represent a Return to the Politics of the Mao Era?” The evening convened the scholars Roderick MacFarquhar and Andrew Walder the publication of whose new book on Mao Zedong was the occasion for the event with diplomat Susan Shirk and Orville