He is now as powerful as Mao( China has arisen) and Deng ( to get rich is good). Chairman Mao with the Long March united the disparate ( regions and ethnicities ) and far-flung nation ( from the Pacific to Mongolia) and with the Cultural Revolution (the cleansing of the cadres and infusing of renewed commitment. Many were killed, imprisoned and reeducated, including Deng and Xi and power was consolidated but China stagnated. The Gang of Four tried to grab power as the heirs of the Revolution and of Mao's vision, but failed, were locked up and a new system of sharing power came into being in the 80's, but then Deng emerged all -powerful and set China on the way towards economic reform.
Deng saw that China had to open up its economy and so with his " to get rich is good", initiatives and incentives opened up China ( capitalism with a Chinese face....The State would still be central to everything and control the change). China exploded economically and became " the manufacturer to the world" With a huge and cheap and controlled workforce, Western and Japanese investments and plants/corporations poured in and the economy boomed. There was a building boom and employment soared and cities grew as workers/farmers from the country-side flocked to them.
Man millions were lifted up economically and China became a major player in the world and not only economically but politically too. The Giant Panda could no longer be dominated by outsiders from the West. Now they came and genuflected to make money. This would have an impact on their economy and employment as more and more corporations moved to take advantage of the Chinese boom.
After Deng, growth continued but at a slower pace. A new stimulus/vision was needed and it came in the form of Xis aspiration to make China great again. It rested on four pillars....1. Restoring China to its former predominance in Asia...2. Establishing control over the territories of Greater China including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao and Tibet.......3. Recovering its control/ sphere of influence over the adjacent seas (e g. building islands in the South China Sea ).....Commanding respect from the "other great nations" ...U N , EU, US , Japan, Russia ......As a result it has founded a new international bank and invited other nations to join and they have; starting and funding the new Silk Road to tie the world to it by land, rail and sea; investing heavily around the world from Australia to Africa building railways, ports, and buying up much needed resources from farmlands to forestry to oil and gas.
Xi, a son of one of Mao's top aides, who was arrested and imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution ( 1962), when he was 9 yrs. old, sent to be " re-educated" in the country-side, lived in a cave in Yan'an, shoveling dung ( his older sister, deprived and abused, committed suicide), survived by embracing the " change" and made himself " redder than red"( according to a long time friend, "doing what was needed to claw back to the top". Persistence paid off ( he was rejected 9 times, before becoming a member of the Party) and now he leads a nation of 1.4 billion and is the unquestioned head of the 89 million Communist Party.
Aggressive, persistent, ambitious, driven and supremely confident. There is no stopping him and his vision of a rejuvenated, triumphant China.