Heroes have a special place in the Communist Party’s mythmaking around its construction of legitimacy, said David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project. “The point is to have figures that point people toward the need to sacrifice oneself to the interests and priorities of the party. The life well-lived is the life of devotion to the party and the nation,” he said. Last month, after presiding over a parade celebrating 70 years of Communist rule, Xi elevated Huang to the party’s equivalent of sainthood. ADThe beatification of Huang comes amid a wider campaign to instill core Communist ideals and traditional values in younger generations.

Source: Washington Post November 03, 2019 14:46 UTC