{"id":199617,"date":"2017-03-20T20:24:28","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T03:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=199617"},"modified":"2019-09-07T11:47:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-07T18:47:08","slug":"drawing-news-xis-100-kilos-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2017\/03\/drawing-news-xis-100-kilos-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing the News: Xi’s 100 Kilos of Grain [Updated]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, state broadcaster CCTV aired a segment titled “Beginner’s Mind: the Liangjiahe Chapters,”<\/a> the latest installment in a\u00a0spirited\u00a0presidential image-crafting campaign that has followed Xi closely through\u00a0his five-year tenure<\/a>. The seven-minute video compiles photos of a youthful Xi with audio clips of the president describing his seven years\u00a0as a “sent-down youth<\/a>” \u00a0(\u4e0b\u653e\u9752\u5e74) in the northern Shaanxi village of Liangjiahe<\/a>\u00a0during the Cultural Revolution. The segment opens with a mashup of early Xi media interviews describing the impact of his time toiling in the rural landscape and living in a\u00a0yaodong<\/em> cave-dwelling<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Those seven years living with the community in Shanbei left me with a very mysterious, almost a divine feeling. \u00a0Since then we\u2019ve had all types of challenges\u2014tests, or when beginning new jobs\u2014but our minds always return to the Shanbei plateau, to those elders overseeing the ox-tilling or the Shaanxi folk tunes. <\/span>In the rainy wind I\u2019d be in the <\/span>yaodong <\/span><\/em>(cave-dwelling) with the cut grass, at night I\u2019d go to see the animals and follow them to tend the sheep. No matter the job I\u2019d do it. I\u2019d carry 200 jin<\/em><\/a>\u00a0of wheat on a ten <\/strong><\/span>li<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>mountain road without even switching shoulders<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0[…]\u00a0<\/span> [Chinese<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

200 jin <\/em>is a massive load (about 243 pounds), and ten\u00a0li\u00a0<\/em>a fair distance (just over 3 miles).\u00a0Easily bearing one over the other would be almost as impressive as Mao Zedong’s Olympic-beating Yangtze swim in 1966<\/a>. After watching the CCTV segment, CDT resident cartoonist Badiucao (\u5df4\u4e22\u8349)\u00a0<\/strong>offered illustrated homage to President Xi’s fabled strength, and a theory on how he might have accomplished such a\u00a0feat:<\/p>\n

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Manufacturing a God, Xi Jinping: the Beginner’s Mind Chapters (\u4e60\u8fd1\u5e73\u9020\u795e \u521d\u5fc3\u7bc7) by Badiucao\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Fellow cartoonist Rebel Pepper (\u8fa3\u6912) was also inspired to illustrate a frame from the Liangjiahe Chapters. In his rendering, Xi carries an inflatable bull,\u00a0almost weightless but conspicuously labeled “200 jin<\/em>,” in a reference to the Chinese expression “blowing the cow,” (chu\u012b ni\u00fa\u00a0<\/em>\u5439\u725b<\/a>) meaning to brag or boast:<\/p>\n

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Talking Big Without Switching\u00a0Shoulders (\u5439\u725b\u4e0d\u6362\u80a9), by Rebel Pepper<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

On Twitter, Lu Yong alluded to the president’s\u00a0nickname “Steamed Bun Xi<\/a>“\u2014an artifact of an early episode in Xi’s state media-fueled image campaign<\/a>\u2014to stage a photographic\u00a0interpretation of Xi’s 200 jin<\/em> line:<\/p>\n

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\u4e3a\u5e86\u795d\u5929\u964d\u4f1f\u4eba\uff0c\u6211\u7528\u9762\u7c89\u4e8c\u767e\u65a4\uff0c\u84b8\u4e86\u4e2a\u7279\u5927\u53f7\u5305\u5b50\uff0c\u4e0d\u6362\u80a9\u3002 pic.twitter.com\/zQpEi6vY2c<\/a><\/p>\n

— \u9646\u52c7 (@luyongg) March 20, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n