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I don't think anybody inside of China or outside of China thought that he would be able to move so swiftly

to shift away from the kind of collective leadership that had developed over the previous 15 years or so

to a much more centralized rigid system focused around the general secretary as the key leader or as the core.

And that I think took everybody's side by surprise and also his illiberal attitude.

His father was known as a very liberal figure and had been responsible for many of the progressive reforms in the south of China.

He himself had worked in provinces along the Chinese coast,

which had a much greater role for private business, for example.

And yet when he took power, he didn't move in a liberal direction.

He moved back in a much more conservative direction.

And I think it was because of his fear that unless there was that unified, tough discipline party

with a key leader, things could slip very quickly out of control.

Ambrice Klen, and this is the LawFair podcast Tuesday, September 7, 2021.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

To get more insight into the workings of the CCP, I sat down with Tony Sage,

the director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the day-wool professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Professor Sage is the author of the new book from Revelto Ruler, 100 Years of the Chinese Communist Party.

...