Xi Jinping, confirmed as China's leader for the next decade, presents a stark contrast to his predecessor Hu Jintao. While Hu is known for his anonymity, Xi is described by those who have met him as 'a big personality'. Standing over 6ft tall, he is confident and affable, with a ready smile and a glamorous second wife, the renowned People's Liberation Army singer Peng Liyuan. He has expressed fondness for US war movies and praised independent film-maker Jia Zhangke.
At 59, Xi belongs to a generation that grew up during China's reform and opening era. Unlike Hu, whose first US visit was in 2002, Xi and his peers have travelled frequently and have personal links with the West. His daughter studies at Harvard, and a sister is thought to live in Canada. Like many of his peers, Xi is a 'princeling'—the child of a powerful Communist party figure who experienced both privilege and prejudice.
Born in 1953 to Xi Zhongxun, a Long March hero and former vice-premier, and Qi Xin, Xi grew up in the relative comfort of Zhongnanhai. However, at age nine, his father fell from grace with Mao Zedong. Six years later, during the Cultural Revolution, Xi was sent to the impoverished Shaanxi province to 'learn from the masses'. He spent seven years living in a cave home in Liangjiahe village, later telling a Chinese magazine, 'I ate a lot more bitterness than most people.'
Political commentator Li Datong suggests this 'double background' has been formative for princelings like Xi, combining family legacy with firsthand experience of rural China. 'It gives this generation a strong tradition of idealism and the courage to do something big,' Li said. Despite openly criticising the Cultural Revolution, Xi embraced the party; a WikiLeaks cable cited an academic who knew him as a young man, saying he 'chose to survive by becoming redder than red'.
Family connections helped Xi secure a place studying chemical engineering at Tsinghua University and a post as aide to military leader Geng Biao. He then took an unglamorous post in Hebei province, possibly to distance himself from nepotism claims. As deputy secretary of Zhengding county, he visited Muscatine, Iowa, where host Eleanor Dvorchak recalled, 'He was serious. He was a man on a mission.' Sarah Lande, who organised the trip, noted his confidence was evident even through a translator.
Xi transferred to Fujian province in 1985, climbing steadily over 17 years in prosperous coastal areas, where he courted investors and adopted new ideas. Former US treasury secretary Hank Paulson called him 'the kind of guy who knows how to get things over the goal line'. After Shanghai's party secretary was toppled in a corruption scandal, Xi took charge in 2007. Within six months, his elevation to the politburo standing committee signalled his rise to the top.
