The thoughts of President Xi out there for all to see

Xi Jinping has coined a slogan to guide China for the next two decades.

A Beijing resident passes a billboard featuring Xi Jinping. Picture: AFP

A new slogan will shape the lives of ordinary Chinese over the next couple of decades: “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”

The 19th Communist Party Congress has given birth to the President’s cumbersome “thought”, which will be plastered on banners on every street corner, school, university, and hospital in China.

The goal of this new era, which will be dominated by Xi, is to “socialist modernisation” — the centralisation of all power under the party and especially the leader — by 2035, when he will be 82.

Asked about the new slogan, retired car factory worker Xu Xiuzhen, 55, heaped praise on Xi. “I want him to lead the country as long as he can,” she said. “Our country’s socialism is good. The country is stable, compared with capitalism in places like Iraq and Syria. And our economy is growing faster than any other in the world.”

However, real estate agent Zhao Chunhua, 34, complained that her son was denied a place in Beijing state schools despite being born in the city, because she was born in Liaoning province. “No matter what the system or the policy, we ordinary people have no say about it, we have no choice but to accept it,” she said.

Zhu Qiling, 40, who works in the marketing department of a machinery company, said: “I don’t know what the new phrase means, nor do I really understand the Three Represents of Jiang Zemin or the Scientific Development idea of Hu Jintao. All I know is, they want these phrases to highlight their leadership.”

She likened the congress to a coronation.