A fringe group of hard-line conservatives who long for the way things were under communist China's founding leader, Mao Zedong, have welcomed President Xi Jinping's "new era" of socialism and its renewed emphasis on equality.

Their enthusiasm only goes so far, though. They don't want to put Xi on the same pedestal as Mao.

At the ruling Communist Party's leadership conclave that wrapped up last week, Xi laid out a confident vision for a proud and prosperous China, with the party firmly in control, and cemented his authority as the country's most powerful leader since Mao took power in 1949 and declared the founding of modern China.