Seven men who rule a billion
Who is Xi Jinping? Although he has finally risen to the supreme office in the world's most populous nation and second-largest economic power, Xi Jinping remains an enigmatic cipher - even to many of his fellow Communist Party apparatchiks.
New man at the top Xi Jinping an enigma
Although he has finally risen to the supreme office in the world's most populous nation and second-largest economic power, Xi Jinping remains an enigmatic cipher - even to many of his fellow Communist Party apparatchiks.
Since his succession was set five years ago, the state media has gone out of its way to paint Xi in a favourable light. He is often depicted as a mature, competent and popular statesman, one meticulously groomed over three decades to rule the party's fifth generation of leaders.
Even so, little is certain about the man himself apart from his prestigious pedigree and the few sketchy details found in his official résumé.
Until now, Xi, 59, has perhaps been best known as the husband of Peng Liyuan , a beloved folk singer and mainstay of state television programmes. Many mainlanders also know him as the "princeling" son of Xi Zhongxun , a revolutionary general and former vice-premier among the first generation of communist leaders.
Is Xi still the man with the common touch, a bit bland and rustic, as he was known during the six years he was "sent down" to his father's birthplace in Fuping county, Shaanxi province to work during the Cultural Revolution?
