But Bo campaigned for the standing committee in an atypical way. Rather than just rely on personal networks to broker a backroom deal in the politburo, he started a number of high-profile political campaigns. The anti-mafia campaign made Bo enormously popular in Chongqing, and throughout China. However, Bo is most famous for his Mao-style mass campaigns : the « red culture » movement included singing revolutionary songs, reading communist classics, broadcasting red television programmes, and texting Mao quotes.
Alongside the strike-black and sing-red campaigns, Bo pursued other populist policies including subsidised housing for the poor, free tuition below ninth grade, and more police in crime-ridden neighbourhoods.
Bo even revived the cultural-revolutionary practice of sending bureaucrats to the countryside to work alongside peasants for one month each year. Bo is a strange sort of Maoist considering that during the cultural revolution his father was tortured and his mother was beaten to death. Like Xi Jinping, Bo was a political chameleon who seized opportunities : when Bo was minister of commerce, he was very cosmopolitan ; as general secretary of Chongqing, he was populist.
Bo also hedged his bets through his son, who went to Oxford, and then Harvard. For the princelings, the main ideology is not communism, nationalism or reform ; everything is about power. Wang was later convicted for, among other things, trying to defect to a foreign power. Why did this well-connected police chief willingly risk such a serious outcome? Wang was convinced that the alternative would have been worse : he figured that Bo would have had him assassinated if he stayed in Chongqing.
But the way Bo ran Chongqing as a personal fiefdom for personal economic and political gain went too far - the outrageous wealth of his wife and son shocked many people in China. In a way, Bo had to go because he was too popular, and his Chongqing model was too successful. Bo thus was expelled from the party, and the political aspects of his Chongqing model were quickly dismantled, although some of the economic policies remain in place. The CCP used traditional propaganda strategies to reestablish political control ; hence rather than a being part of the solution, transparency is seen as a problem.
In other words, just because the CCP successfully stopped the rise of an ultra-egalitarian and ultra-nationalist strongman does not mean that it will pursue liberal political reforms. The main conclusion that can be drawn from the Bo Xilai crisis is that the party is more fragile than most experts thought. The widespread expectation of observers was that they would witness a well-scripted transition from the fourth to the fifth generation leadership.
While most of the fourth-generation leadership were trained as engineers, the fifth-generation leadership studied the humanities and social sciences : law, economics, history and journalism.
Five things shaping China's view of the world. China introduces Xi Jinping ideology in schools. Image source, Reuters.
As only the third leader to have issued such a report, the move establishes Xi's status as an equal to party founder Mao Zedong and his successor Deng Xiaoping. Why is the resolution significant? Xi Jinping: From princeling to president China introduces Xi Jinping ideology in schools How China's wealth gap policy may change the world.
You may also be interested in:. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Related Topics. Published 12 May. Published 25 October. He has been front and centre of China's push to cement its position as a superpower, while also launching crackdowns on corruption and dissent.
A consummate political chess player who has cultivated an enigmatic strongman image, the leader of the ruling Chinese Communist Party has rapidly consolidated power, having his ideas mentioned by name in the constitution - an honour that had been reserved only to Mao Zedong until now. The "Xi Jinping Thought" means that any challenge to the president will now be seen as a threat to Communist Party rule.
In , the National People's Congress approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. Born in Beijing in , Xi Jinping is the son of revolutionary veteran Xi Zhongxun, one of the Communist Party's founding fathers and a vice-premier. Because of his illustrious roots, Mr Xi is seen as a "princeling" - a child of elite senior officials who has risen up the ranks.
But his family's fortunes took a dramatic turn when his father was purged in prior to the Cultural Revolution and imprisoned. At the age of 15, the younger Xi was sent to the countryside for "re-education" and hard labour in the remote and poor village of Liangjiahe for seven years - an experience that would later figure large in his official story.
Far from turning against the Communist Party, Mr Xi embraced it. He tried to join it several times, but was rebuffed because of his father's standing. Once he was finally accepted in , he worked hard to rise to the top - first as a local party secretary in Hebei province, before moving on to more senior roles in other places including party chief of Shanghai, China's second city and financial hub.
His increasing profile in the party propelled him to its top decision making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, and in he was picked as president. The Tsinghua University chemical engineering graduate is married to the glamorous singer Peng Liyuan, and the two have been heavily featured in state media as China's First Couple. It's a contrast from previous presidential couples, where the first lady has traditionally kept a lower profile.
They have one daughter, Xi Mingze, but not much is known about her apart from the fact that she studied at Harvard University. Other family members and their overseas business dealings have been a subject of scrutiny in the international press. Mr Xi has vigorously pursued what he has called a "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" with his China Dream vision.
Under him, China has enacted economic reform to combat slowing growth, such as cutting down bloated state-owned industries and reducing pollution, as well as its One Belt One Road trade project. The country has become more assertive on the global stage, from its continued forcefulness in the South China Sea despite international protestations, to its exercise of soft power by pumping billions of dollars into Asian and African investments.
This has been accompanied by a resurgence in patriotic nationalism whipped up by state media, with a particular focus on Mr Xi as China's strongman, leading some to accuse him of developing a personality cult like that of Mao. At home, Mr Xi has waged war on corruption which has punished more than a million "tigers and flies" - a reference to both high- and low-ranking party officials.
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