Jiang Zemin is a 2026 documentary focusing on the life and political experiences of Jiang Zemin, the core of the third generation of the central leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and general secretary of the CCP Central Committee from 1989 to 2002. The film was jointly produced by the Publicity Department of the CCP Central Committee, the Institute of Party History and Literature, the National Radio and Television Administration, and China Media Group to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Jiang Zemin's birth.
Production and broadcasting 17 August 2026, marked the 100th anniversary of Jiang Zemin's birth. The China Central Television (CCTV) released a twelve-episode documentary series, Jiang Zemin, before the anniversary. According to the production company, the series comprehensively reviews Jiang Zemin's more than 70 years of revolutionary career. The documentary premiered on CCTV-1 at 8 p.m. on 11 August 2026, and was rebroadcast on CCTV-4 at 10 p.m. for six consecutive nights, with two episodes each night, and ended on 16 August.
Episodes The documentary narrates Jiang Zemin's personal experiences and his activities in the political, economic, social and defense affairs of the People's Republic of China in a chronological order.
Historical materials and presentation methods
The documentary uses historical photos, video footage, and interviews recorded at different times, and discloses some previously unpublished personal materials. According to Lianhe Zaobao, the first two episodes revealed for the first time the wedding photos of Jiang Zemin and his wife Wang Yeping taken in the early 1950s; one of the parties involved in the film also recalled that in 1948, Jiang Zemin disguised himself, wore an American military uniform, and drove a jeep to cover a group of underground members of the Chinese Communist Party as they evacuated from Shanghai.
The film also uses previously recorded interview materials and includes more recent interviews. Episode 4, "Major Breakthrough", broadcasts footage of Zhu Rongji's 2008 interview and includes an interview with Guo Shuqing marked as being conducted in 2026. Episode 5, "Strategies for National Rejuvenation", tells the story of the negotiations between China and the United States before China's accession to the World Trade Organization, and uses an interview recorded in 2007 between Shi Guangsheng, then Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and Zhu Rongji, in which the two recall the process of the China-US WTO negotiations in 1999. Episode 7, "True Colors of the Storm", in narrating the appeal of Falun Gong practitioners near Zhongnanhai in 1999 and the subsequent handling of the Falun Gong issue by the Chinese government, also quotes an interview with Wang Maolin, former director of the State Council's Office for Preventing and Handling Cult Issues, in 2007.
Regarding the presentation of historical events in images, Lianhe Zaobao noted that the documentary Deng Xiaoping, which aired in 1997, showed footage of Tiananmen Square during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, while the third episode of Jiang Zemin, titled "Taking on a Critical Mission," did not use such footage when narrating the "political turmoil" of 1989, but instead presented empty shots of Tiananmen Square. The newspaper quoted Wang Shengyu, a research assistant at the Center for China Analysis at the Asia Society Policy Institute, as saying that such documentaries have historical value; for scholars studying the history of the Chinese Communist Party, the materials disclosed in them can constitute new historical materials.
Analysis The documentary was part of a series of official Chinese events commemorating the 100th anniversary of Jiang Zemin's birth. CCTV-1 broadcast two episodes every night during prime time starting 11 August. Lianhe Zaobao reported before the program's premiere that CCTV's program schedule showed that the documentary would be broadcast two episodes every night from 11 to 16 August. Taiwan's Central News Agency also reported on the broadcast of the documentary in the context of the 100th anniversary of Jiang Zemin's birth, noting that the program was broadcast for six consecutive nights, with two episodes per day.
After the broadcast of the third episode, "Taking on a Critical Mission," both Lianhe Zaobao and the Central News Agency reported on the documentary's narrative of the 1989 political events and the turning point in Jiang Zemin's political career, from Shanghai Party Secretary to General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee. Lianhe Zaobao pointed out that the episode described Jiang Zemin's appointment as General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee as "Taking on a Critical Mission at a Critical Moment for the Party and the Country," and reported on the documentary's presentation of the suspension and rectification of the World Economic Herald and the 1989 political turmoil. The Central News Agency also subsequently reported on this episode under the title "Jiang Zemin's Documentary Depicts June Fourth and Describes'Taking on a Critical Mission' in 1989," and quoted the relevant narrative in the film about the turning point in Jiang Zemin's political career. As subsequent episodes aired, Lianhe Zaobao reported on the fifth episode, "Strategies for National Rejuvenation," which recounted the 1999 US-China WTO negotiations, and the seventh episode, "True Colors of the Storm," which presented the 1999 Falun Gong incident and the Chinese government's subsequent handling of it.
Lianhe Zaobao also noted that several personal experiences and historical details revealed in the documentary sparked discussions on the Chinese internet, with many people expressing nostalgia for the elder. The newspaper stated that classic images and quotes from Jiang Zemin's past are widely circulated on the Chinese internet and have formed related memes, thus attracting many netizens who refer to him as the "elder" to watch the film.
References
External links
Jiang Zemin on the China Central Television (in Chinese)