“Eternal Son of the Loess Plateau”

In December 1968， Mao Zedong， the core figure of the Peoples Republic of Chinas first-generation leadership， declared that“it is absolutely necessary for educated young people to go to the countryside to be reeducated by poor and lower-middle-class peasants.” In response to the call， millions of “educated youths”swarmed from cities to rural areas， stirring up a tide of educated young urbanites going to and working in the countryside or mountainous areas. Xi Jinping， now general secretary of the Communist Party of China （CPC） Central Committee， chairman of the Central Military Commission， and president of the Peoples Republic of China， was one of those educated youths.

In January 1969， when not yet 16 years old， Xi volunteered to work in a small village named Liangjiahe in Yanchuan County of the northwestern province of Shaanxi. He slept on an earthen bed in a cave dwelling and ate steamed corn bread alongside the local residents. It was there that he was admitted into the CPC and became the villages Party chief. He spent seven years working in the village， until 1975 when he enrolled in Tsinghua University.

Xi once said that his growth and progress started with his seven years in northern Shaanxi and that one of the biggest lessons he learned there was to seek the truth from facts and serve the people—a philosophy that continues to benefit him today.

Overcoming “Four Obstacles”

Setting out from Beijing， Xi and 14 other educated youths headed to Liangjiahe. After a day and a night on a train， they took a truck and walked on foot for five kilometers along a mountain path before arriving at the village.

Despite its name “Liangjiahe” （literally， “Liangjia River”）， the village hadnt a river， but a ditch in which a little dirty water might gather in the rainy season. All of its 200-plus villagers dwelled in“earth caves” built in the steep slopes on both sides of the ditch. The earthen beds and brick stoves that local folks used were unfamiliar to educated youths who grew up in cities.

Xi was allotted an unused cave dwelling to stay. He learned to sew clothes and quilts by himself and became an expert in farming. Gradually， he integrated with the land that fostered and cultivated his forefathers. In an article， Xi mentioned that he overcame“four obstacles” during his stay in the countryside：endprint