62 Facts About Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and thus as the paramount leader of China, since 2012.

Xi Jinping lived in a yaodong in the village of Liangjiahe, Shaanxi province, where he joined the CCP after several failed attempts and worked as the local party secretary.

Xi Jinping subsequently joined the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP the same year and served as first secretary of the Central Secretariat in October 2007.

Xi Jinping officially received the title of leadership core from the CCP in 2016.

Xi Jinping has enacted or promoted a more aggressive foreign policy, particularly with regard to China's relations with the US, the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, the Sino-Indian border dispute, and the political status of Taiwan.

Xi Jinping has sought to expand China's African and Eurasian influence through the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi Jinping has promoted "common prosperity", a series of policies designed with stated goal to increase equality, and used the term to justify a broad crackdown and major slew of regulations against the tech and tutoring sectors in 2021.

Xi Jinping responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China with a zero-COVID approach until December 2022, afterwards shifting towards a mitigation strategy.

Xi's political ideas and principles, known as Xi Jinping Thought, have been incorporated into the party and national constitutions, and he has emphasized the importance of national security and the need for CCP leadership over the country.

Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953, the second son of Xi Zhongxun and his wife Qi Xin.

Xi Jinping became friends with Liu He, who attended Beijing No 101 School in the same district, who later became China's vice-premier and a close advisor to Xi after he became China's paramount leader.

Xi Jinping's father was later imprisoned in 1968 when Xi was aged 15.

Xi Jinping worked as the party secretary of Liangjiahe, where he lived in a cave house.

Xi Jinping was arrested during a crackdown on deserters from the countryside and sent to a work camp to dig ditches, but later returned to the village, spending a total of seven years there.

Xi Jinping reunited with his father in 1972, because of a family reunion ordered by premier Zhou Enlai.

Xi Jinping was promoted in 1983 to secretary, becoming the top official of the county.

Xi Jinping eventually took over as provincial Party Committee secretary after several months as acting governor, occupying a top provincial office for the first time in his career.

Xi Jinping pledged there would be no 'purges' during his administration, despite the fact many local officials were thought to have been implicated in the Chen Liangyu corruption scandal.

Xi Jinping was ranked above Li Keqiang, an indication that he was going to succeed Hu Jintao as China's next leader.

Xi Jinping was put in charge of the comprehensive preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as well as being the central government's leading figure in Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Xi Jinping made his first foreign trip as vice president to North Korea, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen from 17 to 25 June 2008.

Xi Jinping was reportedly at the helm of a top-level CCP committee dubbed the 6521 Project, which was charged with ensuring social stability during a series of politically sensitive anniversaries in 2009.

In February 2009, in his capacity as vice-president, Xi Jinping embarked on a tour of Latin America, visiting Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Malta, after which he returned to China.

Xi Jinping visited Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, and Myanmar on his Asian trip from 14 to 22 December 2009.

Xi Jinping later visited the United States, Ireland and Turkey in February 2012.

Xi Jinping travelled in a large van with his colleagues rather than a fleet of limousines, and did not restrict traffic on the parts of the highway he travelled.

Xi Jinping received 2,952 for, one vote against, and three abstentions.

Xi Jinping replaced Hu Jintao, who retired after serving two terms.

Xi Jinping's administration has overseen more Internet restrictions imposed in China, and is described as being "stricter across the board" on speech than previous administrations.

Xi Jinping has centralised his power and created working groups with himself at the head to subvert government bureaucracy, making himself become the unmistakable central figure of the new administration.

Xi Jinping is sometimes called the "pilot at the helm".

Xi Jinping has overseen the relaxation of restrictions on foreign direct investment and increased cross-border holdings of stocks and bonds.

Xi Jinping's administration made it easier for banks to issue mortgages, increased foreign participation in the bond market, and increased the national currency renminbi's global role, helping it to join IMF's basket of special drawing right.

Xi Jinping's administration pursued a debt-deleveraging campaign, seeking to slow and cut the unsustainable amount of debt China has accrued during its economic growth.

Xi Jinping has abolished the four autonomous general departments of the PLA, replacing them with 15 agencies directly reporting to the CMC.

Xi Jinping has adopted a hawkish foreign policy posture called "wolf warrior diplomacy", while his foreign policy thoughts are collectively known as "Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy".

Xi Jinping has advocated for international security cooperation; during a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in September 2021, he spoke out against "interference in other countries' internal affairs", and called for joint cooperation in warding off against "colour revolutions".

Xi Jinping seems to have developed a strong personal relationship with president Vladimir Putin.

On 15 June 2022, Xi Jinping reasserted China's support for Russia on issues of sovereignty and security.

Xi Jinping additionally said that while he would like China to take a different approach to the war in Ukraine, he wanted the relationship to improve every year and said that China and Ukraine shared similar values.

Xi Jinping met with President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders discussed trade and energy issues.

Xi Jinping then went on to Tanzania, South Africa, and the Republic of the Congo.

Xi Jinping made a state visit to South Korea on 4 July 2014 and met with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

Xi Jinping went on a state visit to Australia and met with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in November 2014, followed by a visit to the island nation of Fiji.

Xi Jinping then headed to Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia, to attend the Afro-Asian Leaders Summit and the 60th Anniversary events of the Bandung Conference.

Xi Jinping's visit was met by a considerable number of protests by Czechs.

Xi Jinping met with numerous Arab leaders, including members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Xi Jinping has pushed for the Greater Bay Area project, which aims to integrate Hong Kong, Macau, and nine other cities in Guangdong.

Xi Jinping presided over the 709 crackdown on 9 July 2015, which saw more than 200 lawyers, legal assistants and human rights activists being detained.

Xi Jinping's term has seen the arrest and imprisonment of activists such as Xu Zhiyong, as well as numerous others who identified with the New Citizens' Movement.

Xi Jinping gave premier Li Keqiang some responsibility over the COVID-19 response, in what has been suggested by The Wall Street Journal was an attempt to potentially insulate himself from criticism if the response failed.

Xi Jinping has called traditional culture the "soul" of the nation and the "foundation" of the CCP's culture.

Xi Jinping has said that China, despite many setbacks, has achieved great progress under the CCP, saying that "socialism with Chinese characteristics has become the standard-bearer of 21st-century socialist development".

Xi Jinping has identified five concepts as part of Chinese-style modernisation, including modernisation of a huge population, common prosperity, material and cultural-ethical advancement, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development.

In September 2017, the CCP Central Committee decided that Xi's political philosophies, generally referred to as "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", would become part of the Party Constitution.

Xi Jinping's Politburo Standing Committee colleagues, in their own reviews of Xi's keynote address at the Congress, prepended the name "Xi Jinping" in front of "Thought".

On 24 October 2017, at its closing session, the 19th Party Congress approved the incorporation of Xi Jinping Thought into the Constitution of the CCP, while in March 2018, the National People's Congress changed the state constitution to include Xi Jinping Thought.

The concepts and context behind Xi Jinping Thought are elaborated in Xi's The Governance of China book series, published by the Foreign Languages Press for an international audience.

An app for teaching Xi Jinping Thought had become the most popular smartphone app in China in 2019, as the country's ruling CCP launched a new campaign that calls on its cadres to immerse themselves in the political doctrine every day.

In 2021, the government included Xi Jinping Thought in the curriculum including to students from primary schools to university, which created pushback from parents.

Xi Jinping was described as a good hand at problem solving and "seemingly uninterested in the trappings of high office".

Xi Jinping is known to love films and TV shows such as Saving Private Ryan, The Departed, The Godfather and Game of Thrones, praising the independent film-maker Jia Zhangke.