THE constitution of the Chinese Communist Party defines what it means to be a party member and lists the organisation’s core beliefs. On October 24th a new principle was added to it: “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”—quite a mouthful. Xinhua, a government news agency, said the change was approved at the end of a weeklong party congress, an event that takes place every five years. Party leaders had been parroting the cumbersome phrase for several days since Mr Xi, who is the party’s general secretary as well as president, first mentioned it (albeit without his own name attached) on the opening day of the gathering. Bill Bishop, an American China-watcher, says he writes it as XJPTSCCNE “to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome”.
Talk of theory and whether someone is named in a document might sound recondite. But this has huge implications because it invests Mr Xi with more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. He...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2h4a5v3
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