GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics The Origins of Modern China; Is Trump “Lost”? America, Home of the . . . Squatters? | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution
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Feb 14, 2026 
Frank Dikötter, a leading historian of modern China and Hoover Institution fellow, outlines how the CCP rose through violence, Soviet aid, and contingency rather than romanticized heroism. He and the panel compare Xi to Mao on power consolidation and purges. The conversation then shifts to U.S. political dynamics, economic indicators, and a debate over Billie Eilish’s remark on “stolen land.”
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Official CCP Origin Story Is Simplified
- The standard PRC narrative casts the CCP as liberators who rescued China from corrupt empires and warlords.
- Frank Dikötter says this romantic tale conflicts with party archives and Comintern records showing a very different origin story.
Land Reform Myth Misfits China's Reality
- The myth of land reform as a mass mobilizer misreads rural China and Soviet templates.
- Dikötter argues land patterns varied widely and communist extraction often ruined local economies instead of winning peasants' support.
Historical Continuities From Mao To Xi
- Continuities link Mao's era to Xi Jinping: paranoia, broken promises, double-speak, and purges.
- Dikötter sees Xi's centralization and purges mirroring Yan'an-era tactics and language like 'new democracy.'
