President Xi Jinping is China's most authoritarian leader since Deng Xiaoping, a strongman who has moved aggressively to assert and consolidate power while promoting a cult of personality.
Rivals have been dispatched, he has rooted out those in the ruling oligarchy that were planted there precisely to prevent him from becoming too strong, and he has mounted an anti-corruption campaign that makes the rich and powerful fear crossing him because they are all implicated in China's kleptocracy.
But what does the new strongman want to do with all this power? Recent signs are not encouraging. On the western frontiers he has been stomping down on Muslim Uighurs and Buddhist Tibetans, stifling pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong and Taiwan, rattling sabers along the border with India and militarizing disputes with neighbors in the East China and South China seas. Meanwhile, in the heartland he has unleashed a Draconian crackdown on journalists, critics and activists.