Studies of China’s ruling elites need to be set in the historical context of their formation and expansion, and the resurgence of the notion of “bloodline” (xuetong lun) and its evolution in the last decade into the red-genes theory (hongse jiyin) have increased this need. Yet there is a gap between the scholarly literature in English on China’s ruling elites and academic and non-academic publications in Chinese on the subject, especially on the Yan’an period (late 1935 until early 1948) of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) expansion. Both advocates of the bloodline concept and the red genes theory are connected to Yan’an, as are numerous other contemporary ruling class families. Based on an analysis of Chinese publications, this article examines understudied aspects of the “going to Yan’an” phenomenon during the Anti-Japanese War from a social positioning perspective. Through considering Yan’an as part of social positioning options and how new groups developed there, this article offers a new perspective on the making of China’s post-1949 ruling elites.
The author would like to thank the journal editor and the anonymous reviewers for their very detailed and helpful comments on the earlier version of this manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
2 The bloodline theory highlights the important role of children of communist revolutionaries in Chinese society (Andreas Citation2002). This was once expressed by the following notorious couplet: “the sons of revolutionaries are heroes; the sons of reactionaries are bastards” (laozi yingxiong er haohan, laozi fandong er hundan). See also Walder Citation2004; Wemheuer Citation2019.
4 The notion of red-genes was first used by Xi Jinping in 2013, and it has since been expanded to stress the importance of inheriting the revolutionary ideals and beliefs of the CCP and promoting people with red-genes to leadership roles. See Lam Citation2015; Ranade Citation2023.
6 Zhang Guotao (1897-1979) was, like Mao Zedong, a founding member of the CCP. After losing a power struggle with Mao, he joined the KMT in 1938 and then, after the CCP was victorious in China’s civil war, he went into exile in British-controlled Hing Kong. In 1968 he and his wife. Yang Zilie, settled in Ontario, Canada.
7 Zhang Citation1998, 447. He quoted the following lines of the poet Lu You (1125-1210) from his poem 游西山村 (“Roaming in Mountain West Villages”): “Over numerous mountains and streams, I had my doubts that I could find the road. Then out of the shade of the willows, came bright flowers and another village.”
14 Seybolt Citation1986; Dai Citation1994; Saich and Yang Citation1996; Cheek Citation1997. A considerable number of more recent publications by Chinese scholars focus on the personal and family lives of CCP cadres, as well as social and community activities in the region beyond politics and war.
40 Chang Citation2003, 154. As an important system to distribute basic consumption goods among communist followers before the mid-1950s, gongji zhi or gongjizhi has not been translated properly into English. Many have simply translated it as a “supply system,” while some have lately updated this to a “system of free supplies.” See Lü Citation2021, 80.
42 Chen Citation2006; van de Ven Citation2017. There has also been strong criticism of the unequal basis of what critics have labeled the military-communist supply system in CCP-controlled regions.
73 Zhang Citation2017. This college was also known as Shaanbei Public School or Shaanbei Gongxue in Chinese. See Gao Citation2018, 222; Esherick Citation2022, 184
82 Since the 1980s, this special status has also been reflected in the official distinction of retired veteran cadres (lixiu) from retired ordinary citizens (tuixie).
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Jia Gao is a professor of Chinese Studies at the Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne. He has authored the following books: Chinese Activism of a Different Kind (Brill, 2013); Chinese Migrant Entrepreneurship in Australia from the 1990s (Elsevier, 2015); Social Mobilisation in Post-Industrial China (Edward Elgar, 2019); Chinese Immigration and Australian Politics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), and Aspirational Chinese in Competitive Social Repositionings (Anthem, 2023).
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