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China under Xi Jinping: putting politics in command
In the first of a three-part series, JENNY CLEGG looks at the origins of China’s current leader and the ‘left turn’ he has overseen by insisting that ideology once again take a leading role in the life of the Communist Party
Xi Jinping inspects a factory production line in Laoxian, April 2020

THE Communist Party of China’s (CPC) 20th congress saw Xi Jinping begin his third term as leader. But what are his politics? What has his leadership over the last 10 years meant for China — and what lies ahead for the next five years?

With China the world’s second-largest economic power, these questions, for better or worse, should surely be a high priority for any socialist.

The son of revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun who rose to the leadership of the CPC only to be targeted by Mao in the Cultural Revolution, Xi himself was a “sent down” youth, spending seven years from the age of 15 working in a poor community in the west of China where he served for a time as a commune leader.

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