ARTICLE RECOUNTS TEARS OF LEADER ‘ GOOD OLD UNCLE XI’

First, the leader of China rapped for his people. Then, he cried.

As the Communist Party surges ahead in its efforts to form a cult of personality around President Xi Jinping, “Xi Dada” — a term of endearment that roughly translates to “good old Uncle Xi” — has appeared on all manner of humanizing platforms, from an animated rap video about corruption to blogs chronicling his everyday life.

A new article widely circulated across Chinese so- cial media recounts all four times Xi has claimed to have cried. The most recent event took place in 1985.

According to the piece, Xi was a party secretary in Zhejiang province when he told a reporter in 2004 about two occasions when he cried.

The first was his sister’s death. The second was a drawn- out farewell to the rural Shaanxi province, where he lived between 1969 and 1975 and formed profound relationships.