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| Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, right, with Wang Qishan, who has been a major force in the recent crackdown as secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), at the National People’s Congress, Beijing, March 2015 |
I didn't know about the similarity of current campaigns to those of the Ming dynasty. And here's me, having been in China, on and off, since 1976. Shame on me....
Worth a careful read, to acquaint oneself with the depredations, the horrors of today's despots. Chief despot: Xi Jinping (pic above, with Wang Qishan, a truly nasty character).
/Snip (from around the middle of the article):
“The CCDI’s anticorruption campaign is chillingly evocative of the draconian repressions launched by the Eastern Depot during the Ming dynasty,” one historically minded corporate consultant told me[Schell]. She was referring to a period in imperial history that represented a high tide of Chinese despotism. As most Chinese know from histories, popular novels, and TV dramas, the Ming dynasty was characterized by factionalism, intrigue, paranoia, intimidation, fratricide, and extrajudicial ruthlessness. Trusting no one and fearing treason everywhere, the Yongle Emperor (reigning 1402–1424) sought to protect the throne with an elaborate network of internal surveillance and espionage.
