Yaodong in the context of "Xi Jinping"

⭐ In the context of Xi Jinping’s early life, the yaodong he inhabited in Liangjiahe Village represents what aspect of his formative experiences?

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⭐ Core Definition: Yaodong

A yaodong (窰 [iɤ] in native Jin Chinese, or 窰洞 [jɑʊ tʊŋ] yáodòng in Beijing Mandarin) is a particular form of earth shelter dwelling common in the Loess Plateau in China's north. They are generally carved out of a hillside or excavated horizontally from a central "sunken courtyard".

The surrounding earth acts as a natural insulator, keeping the interior warm in winter and cool in summer. Consequently, very little heating is required in winter, and in summer, it is as cool as an air-conditioned room.

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👉 Yaodong in the context of Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus the paramount leader of China, since 2012. Since 2013, Xi has also served as the president of China. As a member of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership, Xi is the first CCP general secretary born after the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The son of Chinese communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi was exiled to rural Liangjiahe Village, Yanchuan County, Shaanxi Province, as a teenager following his father's purge during the Cultural Revolution. He lived in a yaodong in the village of Liangjiahe, where he joined the CCP after several failed attempts and worked as the local party secretary. After studying chemical engineering at Tsinghua University as a worker-peasant-soldier student, Xi rose through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces. Xi was governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, before becoming governor and party secretary of neighboring Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007. Following the dismissal of the party secretary of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to replace him for a brief period in 2007. He subsequently joined the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the CCP the same year and was the first-ranking member of the Central Secretariat in October 2007. In 2008, he was designated as Hu Jintao's presumed successor as paramount leader. Towards this end, Xi was appointed the vice president and vice chairman of the CMC. He officially received the title of leadership core from the CCP in 2016.

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Yaodong in the context of 1556 Shanxi earthquake

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake (Postal romanization: Shensi), known in Chinese colloquially by its regnal year as the Jiajing Great Earthquake "嘉靖大地震" (Jiājìng Dàdìzhèn) or officially by its epicenter as the Hua County Earthquake "华县地震" (Huàxiàn Dìzhèn), occurred in the early morning of 2 February 1556 in Huaxian, Shaanxi, during the Ming dynasty.

Most of the residents there lived in yaodongs—artificial caves in loess cliffs—which collapsed and buried alive those sleeping inside. Modern estimates by China Earthquake Administration's publications put the direct deaths from the earthquake at roughly 100,000, while over 700,000 either migrated away or died from famine and plagues, which summed up to a total reduction of 830,000 people in Imperial hukou registration. It is one of the deadliest earthquakes and one of the deadliest natural disasters in Chinese history.

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