On the eve of his accession to the post of general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) [in 2012], liberals were pinning their hopes on Xi Jinping. For the first time, a member of the educated youth generation and son of a leader repressed by Mao Zedong in 1962 was assuming supreme power.

In a 2000 interview with the newspaper Zhonghua er nü, the then governor of Fujian province recounted his persecution during the Cultural Revolution: "I was expelled from the high school for children of senior party officials and caught by Red Guards (...) who accused me of all sorts of bad things. They called me a gang leader because I was stubborn and because I said I hadn't done anything wrong." Sent to the countryside, he fled to Beijing, only to be sent back again. As the son of a counter-revolutionary, he experienced the suffering of families from "black categories." His half-sister committed suicide to escape persecution. His father, a firm supporter of China's opening to the world, is said to have condemned the army's intervention against the population in 1989.

Because of this, he enjoyed a positive image in liberal circles. In addition, one of his first actions was abolishing "re-education through labor," which many progressive intellectuals had been calling for.

It's easy to imagine how surprised they must have been in the months that followed his rise to power! Like Joseph Stalin, Xi Jinping had been promoted because he seemed harmless and lacked character. Each faction thought they could easily manipulate him and avoid a fratricidal clash. This was a mistake: Xi understood he had to avoid asserting clear opinions to reach the top of the apparatus. Once appointed general secretary, however, he did not hesitate to assert his will.

Was he inspired by the populist politics of Chongqing municipality chief Bo Xilai? By launching a major anti-corruption campaign (da hei) and singing about the CCP's revolutionary calling (with the "red" chang hong songs ), Bo had indeed been able to gain great popularity.

Whereas liberals thought Xi would follow the policies of Wang Yang – the Guangdong secretary who negotiated with revolting peasants and tolerated the existence of NGOs – it's actually Bo he seems to have drawn inspiration from. Since then, he has gone much further than Bo: During his first term, he launched an anti-corruption campaign that enabled him to eliminate potential rivals and leaders who had brought the CCP into disrepute among the population because of their enrichment. He entrusted this campaign's leadership to the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which has evolved into a full-fledged Cheka with no issue with arresting top leaders and locking them up without trial.

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