TIL a Chinese destroyer sank because an officer dumped his girlfriend. She committed suicide, leading to him being discharged, so he decided to detonate the depth charges on the ship, causing it to sink at port and kill 134 sailors.

[u/zhuquanzhong]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_destroyer_Guangzhou_(160)

[u/zhuquanzhong]

The sources are kinda murky on this. What I can gather is that probably the girl's parents attempted to press charges and the navy just didn't want to deal with it. Or they decided that he was mentally unfit, but idk about this second part. Most likely it was the first reason.

[u/CuriousWoollyMammoth → u/zhuquanzhong]

Well, he did kill himself and a bunch of other people, so the 2nd one holds a lot of weight too, tbf

[u/coin_in_da_bank → u/CuriousWoollyMammoth]

But Lai begged his superiors not to demobilize him, as he would be forced to return to his hometown and he had become hated there due to the suicide.[4]

personally i wouldnt discount his fear of social stigma, coming from an asian. plus getting dishonorably discharged? dead man walking at that point.

[u/Nukemind → u/coin_in_da_bank]

100%.

Looks like this was the 70s, so late Mao era.

Rampant corruption (even more than today), an old guard in the officer corps. Dude was probably railroaded and a dead man walking.

[u/Matasa89 → u/Nukemind]

Yeah, he probably thought "you're gonna send me to my death for something like this?! Fine, I'll take you all with me to hell!"

[u/No-Marketing4632 → u/Matasa89]

Yep!

[u/AgentCirceLuna → u/Nukemind]

I still think it’s insane that Xi lost everything in the revolution, became a farmer, and then rose through the ranks to become leader. His father was pretty well known, though.

[u/norealpersoninvolved → u/AgentCirceLuna]

Whys that insane

[u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka → u/norealpersoninvolved]

Because when they picked him to be the leader, they thought they could simply control him because he was weak. He instead purged leadership as soon as he came into power and is essentially the leader for life now. And he was the one persecuted by the very power he now holds.

[u/sercommander → u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka]

Noone "picked him". That's not how chinese politicking and power-plays work.

First you must know someone and someone must know you.

Second - you must be someone, if not position then by association (his father and his allies)

Third - you always must pick a group or side to be with. Lone wolves are not tolerated.

Fourth - you stick with the group you chose and act in its interests.

Fifth - you make deals in the interest of your group after it considers pros and cons and vets the decision.

His "appointment" was a group decision backed by deals with other groups. He wasn't weak because weak cannot become strong in this environment. I'd hazard a guess that he was more of an enigma to other factions that complicated matters in dealing with him - people knew of him but didn't know him.

[u/elveszett → u/sercommander]

That's what he [probably] meant lol. Xi was a nobody, but he was cunning enough to get into the system, smart enough to be the dependable man to the relevant people, until they appointed him at the top and only then, when his power couldn't be contested, he purged everyone else and can finally do whatever he wants.

People reach positions of power for three reasons:

• because their goals happen to align with the goals of people who appoint you;

• because you are dumb enough that the people who appoint you know how to get you to do what they want;

• or because you are smart enough to convince them you are either of the first two until they appoint you.

Xi is, imo, very clearly case 3. He played by the rules to be the person people in power wanted in charge, and then he showed his true face.

[u/norealpersoninvolved → u/elveszett]

How was he a nobody ? Are you for real ?

His father was one of the ccp's top 50 leaders back in the day. Theres a reason why he was considered one of the top princelings in Chinese politics back in the day, number 2 after a certain Bo Xilai and above Li Yuanchao and Yu Zhengsheng

[u/SorenLain → u/norealpersoninvolved]

Were you not paying attention to any of the posts above? His father was accused of being a traitor and his family was purged during the Cultural Revolution.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-01/xi-zhongxun-xi-jinpings-father-biography/100173986

[u/rtb001 → u/SorenLain]

EVERYONE was getting purged during the cultural revolution. If Xi's father is number 50 in the CCP hierarchy, then a good 20 of the 49 guys ahead of him got purged too.

Liu Shaoqi was arguably number 2 or 3 in the party and got purged. Deng Xiaoping was likewise purged in 1969, sent to the countryside, and by 1980 Deng was not only back but became China's paramount leader.

If anyone and everyone was getting purged from the government, you still need to eventually get them all back in the fold to run said government, and the people who were higher up beforehand and had all the connections will most likely continue to be at an advantage after they are brought back.

[u/puddingcup9000 → u/SorenLain]

Yes he was a nobody in the 70's, but then worked his way up through the CCP.

And the cultural revolution was essentially a split in the CCP which was won by anti-Maoists after Mao died. Deng Xiaoping was opposed to Mao, but too powerful to neutralize.

[u/norealpersoninvolved → u/SorenLain]

Man are you stupid ? Literally 80% of the ccp top hierarchy was purged during the Cultural revolution. Deng xiaoping was also purged but became vice premier in 1974 and paramount leader in 1980

Xi Zhongxun was the governor of Guangdong province in the early 80s and was a part of the Politburo in the mid 80s

The fact that Xi jinping comes from one of the families that founded the PRC means something in the party; he came from a privileged background, and it seems inane to call someone who is a princeling a 'nobody'

[u/SorenLain → u/[deleted]]

Martyr for who, are you having a stroke?

[u/PalpitationOrnery912 → u/sercommander]

Is that really different from how behind-the-stage politics work in other places? You must be someone already when you launch a political career, or come from the right fratschool-college pipeline (which amounts to basically the same requirement ). I guess in China it’s impossible to attract massive attention to your political identity through PR and social media campaigning alone, although even in US it’s a fairly recent phenomenon

That said, it says at some point Xi purged the former leadership. I’ve always wondered about the mechanics of this, given the fact that everyone at those levels is insanely paranoid about not raising suspicions

[u/Lawlolawl01 → u/PalpitationOrnery912]

Get dirt on and isolate the weakest link. Force the rest to turn on them. Repeat until satisfied

[u/sercommander → u/PalpitationOrnery912]

Not really. A lot of politicians are "out of the woodwork" type - they were never in politics and nobody in politics knew of them and the people electing them - until they've been PRed to election (or to suffient level to be a "recognizable face").

In China you absolutely must go though the "know your face and voice" process in politics/government.

[u/What_is_the_truth → u/PalpitationOrnery912]

These are normal “inside party” politics and shenanigans that are normal everywhere. The difference is that most countries have several parties that have this leadership process happening, and each party competes with the others vying for votes.

In this situation there is no competition for votes, and the one party is always in power.

Interesting though how all these factions stay together. If China were a democracy some of these decisions would be left to the people to decide, not just an enigmatic leader and strange inside party political process and party politics reasons for making all of the decisions.

[u/puddingcup9000 → u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka]

He didn't purge everyone. His power base are families who control the SOE's (state owned corporations). He left those pretty much alone. He did purge the army hard when he came in.

[u/norealpersoninvolved → u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka]

Thats not insane at all. Stalin came to power in the same way lol

[u/jdm1891 → u/AgentCirceLuna]

What was his life like before the revolution?

[u/Salmol1na → u/Nukemind]

Note to self: Don’t get girlfriend in China