At the sideline of the Beijing military parade, a microphone inadvertently captured a conversation between Putin and Xi Jinping. Putin mentioned “biotechnology can enable continuous organ transplants,” while Xi Jinping echoed, “some predict that humans may live up to 150 years.” For the two septuagenarian autocrats, longevity is not just a health issue, but also an insurance to maintain their rule. Such conversation evokes thoughts of the long-standing “longevity project” in China.
An alumnus of the Shanghai Military Medical University who immigrated to the United States recalled that the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party initially maintained their youth through “blood transfusion,” relying on a large supply of young blood controlled by the military. With the advancement of medical technology, they turned to military hospitals for live organ transplants, not only keeping the veins of the CCP leadership filled with young plasma, but also enabling the continuous replacement of aging organs.
This elderly individual bluntly stated that the top echelons of the CCP have long been pursuing the “longevity project.” An advertisement by Beijing’s 301 Hospital once emphasized that the “leaders’ healthcare system” can make leaders live longer than Western monarchs and claimed to have made “great progress” in 60 years of development. The advertisement also asserted that this medical system is “world’s number one,” with an average lifespan of CCP leaders in 2008 being 88 years, surpassing leaders of Western developed countries. The ad proclaimed the promotion of the “150-year longevity project” to “combat death,” revealing at the end that the “981 leader health project” had already been launched as early as 2005 with a goal to extend life to 150 years.
“What do high-ranking CCP officials rely on to live 150 years? Organ harvesting is quite common in military academies!” This elderly person’s indignation revealed the bloody cost behind this longevity project.
Online, there is a mix of ridicule and anger in public opinion. Some jokingly say “you can change organs but not heads,” some associate it with Ni Kuang’s novel “Head Exchange,” and others mention the so-called “One Belt One Road organ donation and transplantation,” which effectively supplies Chinese organs worldwide, ready to be “harvested” whenever the elite need them.
While ordinary people at the parade ground are inspired by the “strong nation dream,” the rulers on the stage may be contemplating how to evade the laws of nature by “replacing parts.” In their eyes, the people are merely “resources” that can be utilized at any time.
In history, both Qin Shi Huang seeking the elixir of immortality and Empress Dowager Cixi pursuing longevity did not achieve their wishes. However, today, when authoritarian power combines with modern technology, the cost is likely to be more brutal. If the so-called “immortal leader” can indeed extend their life to 150 years through organ harvesting, the terror of totalitarianism will not only be depriving freedom but also aiming to never die and never retire.