BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Moynihan Institute’s East Asia Program presents Joseph Tori gian\, associate professor at the School of International Service\, Americ an University.China’s leader\, Xi Jinping\, is one of the most powerful in dividuals in the world—and one of the least understood. Much can be learne d\, however\, about both Xi Jinping and the nature of the party he leads f rom the memory and legacy of his father\, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1 913–2002). The elder Xi served the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He worked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He helped build the Communist base area that saved M ao Zedong in 1935\, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launc hed China into the reform era after Mao’s death. He led the Party’s United Front efforts toward Tibetans\, Uyghurs\, and Taiwanese. And though in 19 89 he initially sought to avoid violence\, he ultimately supported the Par ty’s crackdown on the Tiananmen protesters.The Party’s Interests Come Firs t is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biography is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first sever al decades of the People’s Republic of China and a deeply personal story a bout making sense of one’s own identity within a larger political context. Drawing on an array of new documents\, interviews\, diaries\, and periodi cals\, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun\, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party’s demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping’s father\, Torigian revea ls the extraordinary organizational\, ideological\, and coercive power of the CCP—and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it.Joseph Torigian is an associate professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington\, D.C.\, a senior fellow at the Coun cil on Foreign Relations\, and a center associate of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan. He has previousl y held positions \; at Stanford's Hoover History Lab\, the China in th e World Program at Australian National University\, the Council on Foreign Relations\, Princeton-Harvard's China and the World Program\, Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation\, George Washington Univ ersity's Institute for Security and Conflict Studies\, the Higher School o f Economics in Moscow\, and Fudan University in Shanghai. His books includ e Prestige\, Manipulation\, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Sov iet Union and China after Stalin and Mao (Yale University Press\, 2022) an d The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun\, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press\, 2025). DTEND:20260226T193000Z DTSTAMP:20260511T000348Z DTSTART:20260226T180000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:Book Talk | The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongx un\, Father of Xi Jinping UID:RFCALITEM639140402282278085 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:
The Moynihan Institute’s East Asia Progra m presents Joseph Torigian\, associate professor at the School of Internat ional Service\, American University.

China’s lead er\, Xi Jinping\, is one of the most powerful individuals in the world—and one of the least understood. Much can be learned\, however\, about both X i Jinping and the nature of the party he leads from the memory and legacy of his father\, the revolutionary Xi Zhongxun (1913–2002). The elder Xi se rved the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for more than seven decades. He wor ked at the right hand of prominent leaders Zhou Enlai and Hu Yaobang. He h elped build the Communist base area that saved Mao Zedong in 1935\, and he initiated the Special Economic Zones that launched China into the reform era after Mao’s death. He led the Party’s United Front efforts toward Tibe tans\, Uyghurs\, and Taiwanese. And though in 1989 he initially sought to avoid violence\, he ultimately supported the Party’s crackdown on the Tian anmen protesters.

The Party’s Interests Come F irst is the first biography of Xi Zhongxun written in English. This biogra phy is at once a sweeping story of the Chinese revolution and the first se veral decades of the People’s Republic of China and a deeply personal stor y about making sense of one’s own identity within a larger political conte xt. Drawing on an array of new documents\, interviews\, diaries\, and peri odicals\, Joseph Torigian vividly tells the life story of Xi Zhongxun\, a man who spent his entire life struggling to balance his own feelings with the Party’s demands. Through the eyes of Xi Jinping’s father\, Torigian re veals the extraordinary organizational\, ideological\, and coercive power of the CCP—and the terrible cost in human suffering that comes with it.

Joseph Torigian is an associate professor at the Scho ol of International Service at American University in Washington\, D.C.\, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations\, and a center associa te of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan. He has previously held positions \; at Stanford's Hoover Hi story Lab\, the China in the World Program at Australian National Universi ty\, the Council on Foreign Relations\, Princeton-Harvard's China and the World Program\, Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperati on\, George Washington University's Institute for Security and Conflict St udies\, the Higher School of Economics in Moscow\, and Fudan University in Shanghai. His books include Prestige\, Manipulation\, and Coercion: E lite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao (Yale University Press\, 2022) and The Party's Interests Come First : The Life of Xi Zhongxun\, Father of Xi Jinping (Stanford University Press\, 2025).

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