The story of Xi Jinping’s China begins far from the gleaming skylines of Beijing and Shanghai. It starts in Liangjiahe, a small village nestled among the dusty, clay-colored hills of Shaanxi province, where a hand-dug well has become both a historical landmark and a symbol of the political narrative surrounding the country’s most powerful leader.
According to reporting by El País, the well remains one of the most visible reminders of Xi’s formative years. Known as the “Well of the Young Intellectuals,” it commemorates a project undertaken in 1973 when a young Xi Jinping helped villagers address chronic water shortages. More than five decades later, the site has become a focal point for understanding the personal history that China’s leadership presents as central to Xi’s worldview and governing philosophy.
Xi arrived in Liangjiahe in 1969 at the age of 15 during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, a period of upheaval that saw millions of urban youths sent to the countryside for political re-education. The son of Xi Zhongxun, a revolutionary veteran who had fallen from political favor, Xi was dispatched to a community where many residents still lived in cave dwellings carved into hillsides.
Official accounts portray those years as transformative. Visitors to Liangjiahe are guided through exhibits emphasizing endurance, self-reliance, and perseverance. Murals and displays recount stories of hardship and labor, presenting the future leader as a young man who overcame adversity and discovered a commitment to serving both the Communist Party and the Chinese people.
Today, Liangjiahe is a major destination for what has become known as “communist tourism.” Visitors frequently include Communist Party members participating in ideological training programs. Guides describe the village as the place where Xi developed the resilience and “fighting spirit” that have become recurring themes in his speeches.
Those themes have remained constant throughout his political career. In 2002, when serving as governor of Fujian province, Xi reflected on his years in the village by saying that people become stronger through adversity. Two decades later, as he secured a historic third term as general secretary of the Communist Party, he again invoked the need for a “fighting spirit” in response to mounting international pressures and global uncertainty.
For some scholars, Xi’s rise represented a decisive break from expectations that China’s integration into the global economy would eventually lead to political liberalization. Joseph Torigian, a historian and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Xi instead came to embody a different vision—one that emphasizes strengthening the political system in the face of external pressure and demonstrating alternatives to Western democratic models.
Xi’s own family history helps explain that outlook. As a member of the generation often described as “red princes,” he was born into the ranks of China’s revolutionary elite. Yet his family also experienced the political turmoil that marked Mao’s rule. His father, once a senior official, was purged and isolated, while Xi himself faced discrimination because of his family background.
Despite those experiences, Xi remained committed to the Communist Party. According to accounts cited by El País, he repeatedly applied for membership while living in Liangjiahe before finally being accepted. After leaving the village, he returned to Beijing and studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University, one of China’s most prestigious institutions.
As China entered the era of economic reform under Deng Xiaoping, many members of the revolutionary elite embraced new opportunities and growing exposure to the outside world. Xi’s path was different. Rather than distancing himself from the political system, he built a career within it, gradually rising through local and provincial leadership positions.
One chapter of that ascent took him to the United States in 1985. As a local official from Hebei province, Xi joined a delegation that traveled to Iowa to study agricultural practices and strengthen ties with American communities. Participants in the trip later recalled him as curious, personable, and eager to learn about life in the United States.
Decades later, Xi would frequently reference that visit when discussing the importance of people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States. Yet the relationship between the two countries has transformed dramatically since then. China has emerged as a major economic, technological, and military power, fundamentally altering the balance that existed during Xi’s early encounters with America.
That shift became particularly visible during the trade confrontation that intensified in 2025. Beijing responded to pressure from Washington by demonstrating its ability to restrict access to critical resources and leverage economic tools to defend its interests. When Donald Trump visited China in May for talks with Xi, the symbolism of the meeting underscored a message Beijing sought to project: that the two countries were negotiating as peers.
At home, Xi’s authority has become one of the defining features of modern Chinese politics. After taking office in 2012, he launched an anti-corruption campaign that continues today. Chinese disciplinary authorities report that more than seven million officials have faced sanctions during the campaign, which has reached every level of government, including senior ministers and military leaders.
The campaign coincided with a broader effort to reinforce ideological discipline. Xi has elevated the role of the Communist Party throughout society, expanded the teaching of his political thought, and placed renewed emphasis on ideological education. His political doctrine has been incorporated into China’s constitution alongside the ideas of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
Observers point to this combination of anti-corruption measures, ideological revival, and centralized authority as key elements of Xi’s leadership. His administration has also pursued strict policies toward dissent, including campaigns targeting perceived political divergence and firm control in regions such as Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
At the same time, Xi’s public image remains deeply intertwined with historical symbolism. In 2022, shortly after securing a third term as party leader, he chose Yan’an for his first major political visit. The city occupies a revered place in Communist Party history as the destination where Mao Zedong’s forces concluded the Long March.
Accompanied by the other members of the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi toured revolutionary sites, visited the caves where Mao once lived, and delivered speeches emphasizing hard work and determination. The journey echoed the narrative that has followed him throughout his career: the story of a leader whose political identity was forged in hardship, shaped in a remote village, and carried to the center of power in a country of more than 1.4 billion people.
More than half a century after Xi Jinping helped dig a village well in Liangjiahe, that site continues to serve as a symbol of the experiences that Chinese authorities present as foundational to his leadership. As China navigates intensifying global competition and an evolving international order, the village where Xi spent seven formative years remains central to the story of the man who has led the country for nearly 14 years.
