>Let's not put Xi on a pedestal.

Not based off my opinions but assessements of intelligence dossier from CIA on Xi's background, his reputation prior to elevation as Shanghai party secretary and opinion of eminant China hand Lee Kuan Yew. Enough intelligence from credible sources comports to Xi's character to dispel generic corrupt princeling narrative. I was a Xi skeptic, he's uncharismatic, doesn't seem intelligent, but in retrospect, he appears to be the genuine article.

> done tremendous institutional damage to the PRC

He dug PRC out of the exitentially corrupt hole when Deng's reform ran it's course, i.e. growth + decadence that led to thorough CIA infiltration. Enter anticorruption drive and national security policies that purged all the foreign influence, finally securing restive territories like XJ, Tibet, HK. Obviously succession might be an issue, but he mitigated otherwise existential crisis. Short term that takes precedence. Just like Mao kept the country together at cost of 60M lives is bluntly far from dire at PRC scale. Sure Xi's family might be corrupt, but grafting a little on the side (again millions/billions is peanuts relative to CCP scale) does not mean his overall governance of the country does not focus on right priorities and outcomes, i.e. Xi's fixation to expedite the creation of durable insitutions that is designed to outlast any one individuals reign is a worthwhile gamble.

> interesting given his family history

This is generic pathologizing by lazy China watchers who has gotten more wrong than right. Again, evaluate Xi based creditable sources that actually interacted with him. There's too much China Collapse, CCP corrupt memes substianted by nothing but feelings and reguritated ad nauseum.

> Xi also overreached by challenging the US too soon

No, Xi responded to US pivot to Asia under Hu. Containment already proceeded Xi, and wild card Trump is not something that even Xi could anticipate / manage, which by all accounts he did well until covid19, another wildcard. 10Trillion GDP China in 2017 already could not hide + bide anymore, US reeeing at China threat in the last few years was in response to PRC modernizing military with less than NATO's 2% in defense spending. The fact that Xi actually committed to modernizing PRC military compared to BoXiLai who was buddy with corrupt PLA brass is absolutely clutch to mitigating ongoing US containment efforts. Side effect of Deng's development model / hide & bide = being helpless @ US bombing PRC embassy in Kosovo, US carriers groups sailing through strait during cross strait crsis', pre-NSL HK becoming spy capital of Asia etc etc. Semiconductor bans was happening under Obama as well, pre Xi. Again your timeline is backwards, Xi anticipated and mitigated ramp up in US containment efforts. Cannot stress this point enough. That alone, makes him the BEST possible successor to Hu. 5-10 years late in building up coercive military power = huge opportunity for US to shift regional balance. Forcing potential US supporters to hedge by no longer biding was not overreach, it was presient. Xi is doing something spectactularly right when Trump, who filled his cabinent with all the worst China-hawks, like Pompeo, still didn't sail US Carriers through TW strait during the worse break in relations in generations.

>Xi's model of governance

That's a very reductionist view of governing the most populous country with lots of domestic and international components including competition with US. With respect to the topic, how does it address PRC's tech regulation. To be similary pithy, Xi is closing the comprehensive power gap with US during an extremely vital time where both countries are at their most vunerable and with future hegemony on the line. IMO he's doing more right than wrong.