Deng Xiaoping learns from Xi Jinping’s dad

Benjamin Carlson, China economic correspondent for Agence France-Presse, tweeted about a visit to an exhibit at the National Museum of Art in Beijing about the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up (改革开放 gǎigé kāifàng).

He notes: “Deng Xiaoping was hardly to be seen. Xi Jinping — and his father — stole the show.” Read the whole thread, and look at the photos. I found this one particularly interesting:

Carlson annotates: “Xi’s dad also got top billing, in the 2nd-biggest painting of leaders in the exhibit. He’s shown instructing a seated and rapt Deng on where to set reform in motion. Title: ‘Early spring.’”

The suggestion is of course that Deng Xiaoping — generally regarded as the architect of the reform and opening-up policy — learned at the feet of Xi Zhongxun 习仲勋, father of Xi Jinping.