Tracing the Myth of Vice President Xi Jinping of China

LIANGJIAHE, China — The cave is dim and narrow and musty. A platform bed covered with a reed mat sits by the door. A green canvas satchel and a lantern hang from two rusty nails on a wall — possessions supposedly left behind by a lanky teenage boy from Beijing sent here four decades ago to do hard labor.

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Du Bin for The New York Times

The homes in Liangjiahe are caves built into the hillsides, like that of Wang Zhihui and his wife, Shi Cailian.

“He liked reading books,” said Lü Nengzhong, 80, a farmer who housed the boy, Xi Jinping, for three years. “They were thick books, but I don’t know what they were about. He read until he fell asleep.”

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Tracing the Myth of Vice President Xi Jinping of China