Reading with Xi Jinping | War and Peace

Classics are the essence of human civilizations that have stood the test of time. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed his keen interest in Russian literature on many occasions, and said that Russian classics have had a profound influence on him.

On Feb. 7, 2014, in an exclusive interview with Russian media during his visit to the Russian city of Sochi, Xi showed great familiarity with the names of Russian writers, including literary giant Leo Tolstoy.

Xi likes Tolstoy's first full-length novel, War and Peace, very much. Unlike traditional epics, which regard characterizing a certain heroic figure as their central task, War and Peace doesn't have a specific hero. As he explained his thinking behind the work, Tolstoy said what he was trying to write about was the history of the people. The innate heroic spirit of the people has always been a powerful driving force for history to progress.