For someone with such honorable credentials in Chinese Communist Party history, Xi Jinping has spent decades behaving modestly. The son of Xi Zhongxun – a CCP historical figure who not only played an important role in protecting Mao Zedong during the Long March but also provided essential leadership for the success of economic reforms promoted by Deng Xiaoping in Guangdong – the now Chinese national leader was seen both domestically and externally as a politician who prospered through silence, diligence, and humility.
Even in 2012, on the cusp of being crowned successor to Hu Jintao, Xi was the antithesis of Bo Xilai, who came closest to challenging his claim to the post of paramount leader. Xi was known as a meticulous technocrat shaped by the brutality of the Cultural Revolution, while Bo splurged on promoting his own cult of personality, irritating parts of the CCP. Bo would fall from grace after participating in a murder that shocked the world and shook the party, leaving a clear path for what the West saw as a reformer.
