A Princeling of the People

Xi's been steeped in the philosophy of economic reform ever since. His father helped design China's "special economic zones"—the country's first major free-market experiments. In 1985, Xi became vice mayor of Xiamen, just across a narrow strait from Taiwan. In 17 years there, Xi greatly increased trade between the two sides. And he became known for his can-do spirit, summed up by his slogan, "Mashang jiu ban": "Do it now."

Xi brought this drive to another thriving coastal province, Zhejiang, in 2002. He set up a council for business leaders to promote links throughout the Yangtze River delta and became a cheerleader for the "Zhejiang model." The province has racked up more than 13 percent GDP growth annually for two decades by tapping into the entrepreneurial zeal of local residents, who've privatized industry and formed unofficial lending networks outside the state-run banking sector. "Xi was on the frontier of China's economic reforms," says Prof. Xie Jian of Wenzhou University.

Zhejiang's high level of private enterprise—accounting for nearly three fourths of its GDP—also caught the eye of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. On a September 2006 visit to China, Paulson's first stop was dinner with Xi, whom he called "the kind of guy who gets things over the goal line."

Such foreign praise might once have been a black mark. No longer. In Xi, the party has chosen its first modern politician for its top job. Xi is popular with colleagues and ordinary Chinese thanks in part to his superstar wife, the "patriotic folk" soprano Peng Liyuan—described by one Western newspaper as "Vera Lynn, Maria Callas and Posh Spice rolled into one." Still, he sometimes strikes Westerners as a bit of a bumpkin. ("Clodhopper" is the phrase used in his Wikipedia entry—which is blocked in China.) During the recent Party Congress, the pudgy Xi was seen leaning back in his chair, showing off white acrylic socks and unfashionably short trouser hems.

This down-to-earth image has helped Xi to overcome his status as a privileged princeling in a party that still favors humble sobriety. His hardscrabble upbringing made him acceptable to Hu, whose own early career was spent in the poverty-stricken boonies. And his pedigree and record in the dynamic coastal provinces made him appealing to the so-called Shanghai—or GDP—faction, led by Hu's predecessor, the still-influential Jiang Zemin. Xi also helped mop up Fujian and Shanghai after massive high-level corruption scandals in both places, and reportedly called on officials to declare their assets when he took over in Shanghai. As a result, "Xi's considered to be very clean," says a Shanghai-based Western executive who requested anonymity for fear of negative business repercussions. "The one thing people don't want is more corruption." What they've got instead is a new type of communist leader, a modern politician with distinctly Chinese characteristics.

With Stephen Glain in Wenzhou and Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai

© 2007