Abstract

Chinese politics have high a degree of uncertainty. Although it is impossible to know for sure what the future will be, some important signals of the 19th Party Congress have already been sent. Already the most powerful Chinese leader in over three decades, Xi Jinping has built a political foundation solid enough to defy convention. The centralization of power around Xi undoubtedly has increased his authority but it also has reversed much of the institutionalization of rules and procedures generally regarded as essential to party and administration normalization. Xi Jinping now has an institutional guarantee of support. With more personal authority than anyone since Mao Zedong, and having transferred power from ministries and technocrats to party officials and committees, he has the opportunity at the 19th Party Congress to consolidate his position and stamp his authority on the government. The characteristics of this new leadership lineup are "the elderly do not stay; the young men do not enter." The highlight of the 19th CPC National Congress was that "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" is now written into the newly revised CPC Constitution, marking a significant breakthrough in the sinicization of Marxism.