Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping (Chinese: 习近平) is the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and President of the People's Republic of China.

## Early Life

Xi Jinxing's early life encompassed many personal difficulties. When Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xi's secondary education was pulled to an early end due to the Cultural Revolution, which halted all secondary classes for students to criticize and fight their teachers. Xi was 15 in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution when his father was imprisoned. Without his father's protection, Xi was sent to work in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi, in 1969 in Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement. He later became the Party Branch Secretary of a production team, deciding to leave the post in 1975. When he was asked about this experience later by Chinese television, Xi explained that, "It was emotional. It was a mood. And when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realized, it proved an illusion."

## Rise to Power

Xi Jinping over the next couple decades would hold a variety of posts in the government, such as governor of the Fujian and Zhejian provinces. In 2007, there was an unprecedented pension fund scandal with the leadership of Shanghai, and after, Jinping was named secretary of the party. In that year he spent his time restoring their financial well-being, and was also chosen for the Politburo Standing Committee that same year. He then was made Vice President of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and placed in charge of the preparations of the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing.

Later in 2012, on November 15, Jinping was made general secretary of the Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission. In his first speech as general secretary, Xi decided not to follow tradition, sounding more like a Western politician, talking about the aspirations of the average person and calling for better living conditions, jobs, income, safety net of retirement and health care, environment, and education. He also vowed to confront corruption within the government at the highest levels. He referred to what he saw for the nation as the "Chinese Dream."

On March 14, 2013, Xi hit his peak when elected president of the People’s Republic of China, a ceremonial position as head of state.

## Achievements

Like he promised, he immediately set forward to correct widespread government corruption in the PRC. He incarcerated some of the country's most powerful figures, including former security chief Zhou Yongkang. By 2014, the CCP had prosecuted more than 100,000 government officials.

Jinping also enacted new laws replacing those of predecessors in his position. He ended China's one child policy and also ended the "reeducation through labor" system, which punished individuals charged with petty crimes.

He also made economic regulations that have had reverberations on others outside his borders. The government decided to prop up a sagging housing market, but ended up causing the devaluation of the Yuan in 2015. This reflected badly on them, but in the bigger picture, his intentions were only beneficial.

So Xi Jinping has an amazing story, and is one of the greatest leaders China has had in many years, and has shown it in many ways. He is considered the face of the "New Silk Road" innovations, and has many plans for both China, and the world. If anyone can have a lasting, positive impact on our world, it is Xi Jinping, and he will do exactly that and more in the years to come.

## Xi Jinping and the New Silk Road

Speaking at the start of a high-profile summit about China’s “Belt and Road initiative”, Xi hailed his multi-billion dollar infrastructure crusade as a means of building a modern-day version of the ancient Silk Road and a new “golden age” of globalization.

“The Belt and Road initiative is rooted in the ancient Silk Road ... but it is also open to all other countries,” -Xi Jinping

## Details

* Xi was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953. Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971, and later joined the Communist Party of China in 1974. He assumed office in the People's Republic of China on March 14, 2013. Xi Jinping studied chemical engineering from the years 1975 to 1979, then Marxist philosophy and ideological education from 1998 to 2000 at Beijing's Tsinghua University .

## Works Cited

Timmons, Greg. "Xi Jinping." *Biography.com*. A&E Networks Television, 19 Oct. 2016. Web. 24 May 2017. <https://www.biography.com/people/xi-jinping-031016>.

"Xi Jinping." *Wikipedia*. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2017. Web. 24 May 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi\_Jinping>.