> How stable is the power that Xi has consolidated?

Very stable. Basically nothing besides something coming from withing the party itself can shake him, and he took down all of those threats to him from within the party. Not even Mao ever managed to cleanse all of his detractors from the party up until his death.

Saying this, you should not be confusing that "people are throwing looks into his back," and quiet whispers of dissatisfaction with genuine resistance.

> How would the party and the public respond if there were leaks about his private life and behavior? I wonder what his skeletons in the closet are...

If you can write Chinese, google those skeletons, they are up to everybody to see. Even taxi drivers here know of Xi's billionaire sister, but... taxi drivers and other general public can't do anything about that.

> I've also wondered how receptive the Chinese people would be to a series of documentaries or dramas that point out the inequality and unfairness in their system.

People can see that every day out of their windows, not TVs. They don't need to watch any documentaries to know that.

There is the reason people use name of Dong Zhuo as an euphemism for Xi. Take a look at this video, the scene from Chang An says it all about the current political atmosphere in CPC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj_VMvsG7G0

Commoners resent him for disturbing a relative peace of Hu's years that they were just getting taste of, by starting a new political upheaval. CPC elders do not only see him as a threat to Jiang, but they clearly think that they themselves are his next target. His unilateral ambitions on the international stage are no match for the discontent world. And yes, the rank and file ordinary officials can't be more freaked out now.

However... you also don't forget when Xi was thought to stand for reforms, it were the masses themselves who invited his ambitions to move on the supreme power. And that those who were benefiting from status quo were hit by that the most.

i watched the video game trailer and failed to see the connection

Could you elaborate on any of these stories? Just interested

You created an account just to say this?

> If you can write Chinese, google those skeletons, they are up to everybody to see. Even taxi drivers here know of Xi's billionaire sister, but... taxi drivers and other general public can't do anything about that.

Why would I need to read Chinese to find out about this? The Chinese state isn't able to censor content in Chinese, but has got the Western internet under its thumb?

Hypothetically speaking, would you rather read about the recent US impeachment proceedings in Korean or in English? You know, the language most widely spoken in the US?

>Hypothetically speaking, would you rather read about the recent US impeachment proceedings in Korean or in English? You know, the language most widely spoken in the US?

So, I mean, I agree with your point. but as an aside, I think it would be really interesting to see the perspective of a Spanish historian on the recent events in my country

I'd rather read about them in English, but if I only spoke German, I'd expect to get a pretty good idea what was going on from German-language media.

I don't think it is particularly surprising that the best sources of Chinese rumours is in Chinese. I don't think this about censorship (in-fact it's the opposite).

>I've also wondered how receptive the Chinese people would be to a series of documentaries or dramas that point out the inequality and unfairness in their system.

1. Not Very receptive, as it will be seen as someone ( Foreign Intervention )trying to attack them. Something which may be hard to comprehend for most people.

2. Vastly underestimated the power of CCP.

I think these sort of thoughts are precisely why the West has failed to understand China for decades.

As a native Chinese, I agree with both. for 1) IMO Many documentaries from the west failed to tell the story in a way that is optimized for Chinese audiences. I think a root cause of that is the general public doesn’t have a great awareness of core democracy values like fairness and human rights.

Based on the videos I've seen coming out of Wuhan these documentaries may be Chinese made. Beneath the surface is bubbling a mass discontent with the CCP.

Sounds like a fan of House of Cards talking. I don't doubt that Xi may have "skeletons", but probably not like that. He wasn't born President. If there were any "skeleton" of that kind of political significance, do you not think his political enemies would already have discovered those after all those decades he has been a politician?

> If there were any "skeleton" of that kind of political significance, do you not think his political enemies would already have discovered those after all those decades he has been a politician?

I think they already did, and to no effect. Panama papers would've made China to explode under Hu, but nothing happened this time.

If you believe the rumours, Meng (Interpol guy) was rounded up on the slightest suspicion of indiscretion, despite him pleading fealty to Xi god knows how many times.

Gu Zhuoheng's "revelations" also seem to have not resulted in anything

In regimes like that the pivot point is who the military stands behind. Once the regime loses the loyalty of the military generals it’s over.