China’s Great Dream

The first changes were small, more style than substance. Citizens long accustomed to heavily scripted official pomp were startled by televised scenes of a surprisingly relaxed top leadership meeting. China’s new Communist Party boss, Xi Jinping, and six other members of the Politburo Standing Committee were dressed informally. Xi spoke off the cuff, in contrast with his uptight predecessor Hu Jintao, whom many Chinese dubbed “robotic.” On other occasions, two senior leaders called on authorities to cut the jargon and grandstanding.

Then, China’s new top graft buster, Wang Qishan, met with a number of anti-corruption experts and interrupted one who addressed him as “dear respected secretary.” “Drop the formalities,” Wang reportedly told the group. The new message from the top: just get to the point. After less than a month into his job, Xi ushered in a new leadership style that’s taken China by surprise. He has exhorted citizens to pursue “national rejuvenation” and a “Great Chinese Dream,” while cracking down on graft, trimming official perks, and streamlining bureaucracy. At least in some key areas, Xi seems poised to break with the past decade of stagnation, during which time China’s economy slowed and political reforms regressed. If the changes take hold, they could have far-reaching implications both at home and abroad. Many Chinese seem heartened, even inspired, by Xi’s down-to-earth style. But many of China’s jittery neighbors worry that Beijing’s dream could become their nightmare, leading to an increasingly nationalistic and aggressive foreign policy.

Since Xi and his new team were promoted to the top of the party in mid-November, their to-do list has focused on repairing the regime’s tarnished image.

This past year has been the leadership’s annus horribilis; the party has been rocked by high-level political purges, corruption scandals, and revelations that authorities and their relatives abused power to amass enormous wealth. Xi himself warned that unless China’s crooked cadres are reined in, the country could experience growing unrest—even collapse . Now, 2013 is shaping up to be the year of the party makeover. After the new Politburo met in early December, state media reported on a sweeping campaign to trim official spending and roll up the red carpet. New dos and don’ts for party functionaries include eliminating lavish airport welcoming ceremonies, infl ated official entourages, and jargon-filled “empty and unnecessary documents.” Official expenditures, foreign travel, the size and number of government meetings, extravagant banquets, traffic-snarling motorcades, and the mindless but self-aggrandizing public appearances in which many leaders specialize—like pompous ribbon-cutting and ground-breaking ceremonies—must be trimmed back.

The campaign to cut bloat has pleasantly surprised many Chinese. And party watchdogs have also moved quickly in recent weeks to show they’re serious about targeting graft. A local party secretary in Chongqing was purged after a sex video went viral online, showing him in bed with a young woman reportedly hired to blackmail him into giving out lucrative contracts. An alternative member of the party’s powerful Central Committee, promoted just last month, is now being investigated for corruption. And Chinese authorities asked officials in the gambling enclave of Macao—where much of the casino winnings are believed to be embezzled mainland wealth—to tighten up their scrutiny of financial transfers.

Beijing is preparing more substantial changes, too. Xi and premier-to-be Li Keqiang are expected to unveil an ambitious government restructuring—possibly next spring —that will streamline 44 ministeriallevel government bodies into as few as 24. (The country’s central bank is slated to become an independent body, free from supervision by the Chinese cabinet.) Xi also pledged to uphold the rule of law, which has often languished under the weight of official privilege and lack of accountability. “We need to treat people’s needs fairly and endeavor to make them feel justice has been done in every single case,” he said.

To be sure, previous administrations have assumed office promising to boost law and order—only to get bogged down due to vested interests. (Former premier Zhu Rongji launched a “Strike Hard” campaign against crime and corruption in the ’90s; it fizzled after less than a year.) Nor is Xi embracing change to the point of introducing Western-style democracy.

Party leaders seem united in eschewing “Western paths” for their political and economic development. Chinese goals, Chinese values, and Chinese iconography are the foundation of what has come to be known as Xi’s watershed “Chinese Dream ” speech.

The occasion was a Nov. 29 visit by Xi and the rest of the new Politburo Standing Committee to an exhibition titled “The Road to National Revival” at the recently renovated National Museum in Tiananmen Square. The display pounded home themes of China’s victimization at the hands of imperialist foreign bullies, with archival material related to the Opium Wars and Western occupation of extraterritorial “concessions” on Chinese turf. In the second major public speech of his tenure, Xi praised the display of “the great national spirit with patriotism as the core.” But the bit that really captured public attention was his rousing call to pursue the Chinese Dream and national rejuvenation. Prof. Zhou Xiaozheng of Renmin University interpreted this as a championing of “reforms, dropping the [ideological] theories of the Cultural Revolution, working hard and reviving China’s glorious history. It’s really good, and I’m cautiously optimistic.”