Following a four-day plenum, the party late on Thursday gave Xi the title “core”, putting him on par with past strongmen like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, though it also signalled his power would not be absolute by underscoring the importance of collective leadership.
While a cult of personality had begun to form around Xi, he has moved to stop practices including adoring songs on the internet and references to him in state media as “Uncle Xi”, sources with ties to the leadership say.
Indeed, the party’s lengthy communique after the plenum said “boasting” about leaders should be banned and all publicity about them based on fact. That message has seemingly been lost on enthusiastic users of the Weibo social media service, where posts about Xi praising him as “mighty Uncle Xi” – echoing an expression used to greet an emperor – have appeared despite online censorship blocking searches for the expression.
“With Uncle Xi as the party’s core, our Chinese dream will definitely be realised,” wrote one user, referring to a broad, vaguely defined policy of Xi’s to build a strong and prosperous country.
