His name is Xi Jinping.
You pronounce "Xi" like "she."
He is the President of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party.
I can only comment on what I have observed from the students.
There has been excitement and satisfaction over his promotion.
When I have asked if they like the new leader, they say "yes," although
nothing else would be expected. When asked the reason, they say that
he has a good reputation for caring about the rural, poor people, who are
called "peasants" by many people. It is still surprising to hear
that term. The second reason is that he has been a force for
fighting corruption. The students like both of these reasons. They
know about the corruption of some government officials, mainly at the lower levels, they claim.
However, there is always a practical assessment with the Chinese.
As one student said, "Time will tell."
He is an appealing leader and the young students like that. On the world
stage he should appear young, very strong, and "modern." The
students are interested in his fashionable and beautiful wife who was
once a well known popular singer. They have one daughter studying at a
good university in the United States. To me, they look like a couple that
will present to the world a positive image of China.
John Kerry, US Secretary of State, has been visiting this week and President XI
stated that trouble in North Korea would be in nobody's interests. The comments
by the students over the past few weeks agree with this statement. North Korea
is largely taken as a joke by many of them.
The feeling about the earlier Daiyou Islands dispute was a very different story.
There was passion and anger about that.
We are mostly insulated from politics in China, except for the English TV channel CCTV, broadcast
from Beijing. It is a government channel. But I can report that the country has been happy with
President Xi.
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