People still think of Chinese history as this two-line struggle because that's the story the Chinese tell. But everything from Mao Zedong's relationship to Liu Shaoqi to anything that happened during the 1980s, it was not a problem of competing policy platforms. It was a problem of getting the politics of your relationship with the top leader right when it was hard to guess what they were thinking and they were changing their mind and they were suspicious of you. Joseph Torigian Access Bonus Episodes on Patreon Make a one-time Donation to Democracy Paradox. A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com. Joseph Torigian is a Research Fellow at the Harvard History Lab. Previously he was an assistant professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington and a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center. He is the author of Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao. Key Highlights Introduction - 0:48Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng - 2:33Khrushchev Consolidates Power - 16:16Will History Repeat? - 30:11Connections to Contemporary China - 38:31 Key Links Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao by Joseph Torigian Harvard History Lab Learn more about Joseph Torigian Democracy Paradox Podcast Hal Brands Thinks China is a Declining Power… Here’s Why that’s a Problem Anne Applebaum on Autocracy, Inc More Episodes from the Podcast More Information Democracy Group Apes of the State created all Music Email the show at [email protected] Follow on Twitter @DemParadox, Facebook, Instagram @democracyparadoxpodcast 100 Books on Democracy Support the show