How an agonising relationship with his dad shaped Xi Jinping

The Party’s Interests Come First By Joseph Torigian; Stanford University Press; 718 pages; US$50 and £41

BY THE time Xi Zhongxun was in his 70s, his teeth were failing him. Tough, chewy foods were a challenge, so during one family meal, he extracted some half-masticated garlic ribs from his mouth and gave them to his son to finish. Xi Jinping – by then in his mid-30s and a rising star in the Chinese Communist Party – accepted the morsel without hesitation or complaint. He took the remains of the ribs and swallowed them.

Xi Jinping was used to leftovers. As a boy, he would wash in his father’s bathwater. (The next morning the water would be used for a third time, to launder the family’s clothes.) He also understood the importance of deference, for Xi Zhongxun had taught him that children who did not respect their parents were doomed to fail as adults. Every Chinese new year, Xi Jinping would perform the traditional kowtow ritual, prostrating himself before his parent in a display of reverence. If his technique was off, his father would beat him.