If China seems unstoppable, so too does its leader Xi Jinping. As General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China, he commands over 1.4 billion people, in a vast country that spans the prosperous megacities of Beijing and Shanghai and desperately poor rural regions where families still struggle with malnutrition.

Today, Xi Jinping faces a series of monumental challenges that would make other global leaders tremble: a trade war with the USA, political unrest in Hong Kong, accusations of genocide in Xinjiang, stuttering economic growth and a devastating global pandemic that originated inside China.

But who is Xi Jinping and what does he really want? To rejuvenate China and bring economic prosperity to all its people? To challenge American supremacy and turn China into the worlds dominant power? Avoiding both sycophantic flattery and outright condemnation, this new biography by Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges gets inside the head of one of the worlds most mysterious leaders. Skilfully unravelling the hidden story of Xi Jinpings life and career, from his early childhood to his rise to the pinnacles of the Party and the State, they flesh out his views and uncover how he became the most powerful man in the world.

This biography of Chinas leader will be indispensable for anyone interested in China and where it is heading.

Stefan Aust is the former editor-in-chief of Germanys leading news magazineDer Spiegel and the author of numerous bestselling books includingThe Baader-Meinhof Complex.
Adrian Geiges is the long-standing Beijing correspondent of the weekly news magazineStern. Previously he worked as a television reporter for Spiegel TV and RTL in Moscow and New York.

Seek Truth from Facts

1 Who Cares If a Sack of Rice Falls over in China?

Since the emergence of Covid-19, we know that we all should


2 Xi Jinpings Family Background: The Formative Years

From Chinese nightmare to Chinese dream


3 A Colourful Character in a Uniform Crowd

Xi Jinping, husband of a folk singer


4 The Fight against Corruption

Stalin as role model


5 Persecuted by Mao Revered Like Mao

Xis relationship with Chinas towering father figure


6 Confucianism and Communism

How to combine what does not belong together


7 From 5G to TikTok

Xi Jinpings China: between a bright digital future and an Orwellian surveillance state


8 The Dalai Lama and the Uyghurs

How friends of the Xi family became their enemies


9 Xi for Future

The eco-president


10 The New Silk Road

Xis path to global power


11 Peace as Part of Chinas DNA?

The trade war and the troubled relationship with the US


12 Why Xi Jinping Fears Hong Kong and Taiwan

The other, democratic China


13 Will the Whole World Benefit from the Chinese Dream?

From Chinese nightmare to Chinese dream


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