Word: hu
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When China's President Hu Jintao opened the Communist Party's pivotal 17th National Congress on Oct. 15, the 2,000-plus delegates probably didn't expect the 64-year-old to flog the word democracy. But he did, using the term more than 60 times in 2 1?2 hours, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. But before anyone could break out the voting booths, Xinhua carried another story that clarified what Hu really meant: China would continue to develop democracy "with Chinese characteristics" under the "leadership of the Communist Party...
...that the country lacks reliable statistics on which to base economic projections and policies. "They're driving at night without good headlights," says Stephen Green, Shanghai-based economist with Standard Chartered. Another problem is that monetary and fiscal policies are intimately tied up with politics. For example, Chinese President Hu Jintao's centerpiece program of building a "harmonious society" by raising wages and improving state services such as health care for poorer workers plays well with the masses, but may undermine efforts to contain inflation. "As low-income earners enjoy higher incomes they tend to spend money," says Simpfendorfer...
...contrast to that of other leaders, many of whom were the children of senior officials based in Beijing, Hu's path took him through some of China's poorest regions. During spells in the western provinces of Guizhou and Gansu and later in Tibet, Hu is said to have displayed a concern for the less privileged that, analysts believe, lies at the root of his policies. He has made it clear he seeks to rein in the to-get-rich-is-glorious mentality that has gripped the nation since Deng Xiaoping launched China's economic reforms in the 1980s...
...Hu does not have everything his way. Cheng Li, a China scholar and professor of government at Hamilton College, identifies two party factions, which he calls the populists, led by Hu and his allies, and the élitists, made up of so-called princelings--children of top officials--and supporters of former President Jiang Zemin. Many in the latter camp have close ties to Shanghai, China's commercial capital. While both groups share the goal of keeping the party (and themselves) in power, Li argues that they represent "two starkly different sociopolitical and geographical constituencies," with the élitists speaking...
...effective has Hu been at recalibrating China's policies? The country's problems are immense, and if all you did was taste its foul air or look at the huddled masses who have been left out of the boom, it would be easy to conclude that Hu's job had hardly started. In his first years in office, it was often said that Hu was unable to get his vision adopted by powerful provincial leaders. But the old judgment that he is a weak leader may be changing. Li notes that the President has spent the past five years ensuring...