Xi Jinping Thought

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly abbreviated as Xi Jinping Thought, is a set of policies and ideas derived from the writings and speeches of Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. It was first officially mentioned at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in which it was incorporated into the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. At the First Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on March 11, 2018, the Preamble of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China was amended to mention Xi Jinping Thought.

The first official mention of the term was at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party having gradually been developed since 2012, when Xi became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (China's paramount leader). Some news sources have stated that Xi helped create this ideology together with his close advisor Wang Huning. The first indications of Xi's platform had come out in a speech titled "Some Questions on Maintaining and Developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" given to newly elected Central Committee on January 5, 2013, and was later published by Central Documents Press and the journal Quishi.

"Socialism with Chinese Characteristics"

Much of Xi Jinping Thought comes from Xi's 2013 speech, which focused on Marx and Mao, China's place in history, strategic competition with capitalist nations, and a plea to adhere to the goals of cummunism. 

In surveying the history of China, Xi argued it is "Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought that guided the Chinese people out of darkness of that long night and established a New China." And, as to the future, "the consolidation and development of the socialist system will require its own long period of history... it will require the tireless struggle of generations, up to ten generations."

On the relationship with capitalist nations, Xi said, "Marx and Engel's analysis of the basic contradictions in capitalist society is not outdated, nor is the historical materialist view that capitalism is bound to die out and socialism is about to win." Xi aimed to reinforce the Marxist view of history as, "the fundamental reason why some of our comrades have weak ideals and faltering beliefs is that their views lack a firm grounding in historival materialism."

Xi showed great interest why the Soviet Union dissolved, and how to avoid that failure in China:

Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Soviet Communist Party fall from power? An important reason was that the struggle in the field of ideology was extremely intense, completely negating the history of the Soviet Communist Party, negating Lenin, negating Stalin, creating historical nihilism and confused thinking. Party organs at all levels had lost their functions, the military was no longer under Party leadership. In the end, the Soviet Communist Party, a great party, was scattered, the Soviet Union, a great socialist country, disintegrated. This is a cautionary tale!

 The concepts behind Xi Jinping Thought were elaborated in Xi's The Governance of China book series, published by the Foreign Language Press for an international audience. Volume one was published in September 2014, followed by volume two in November 2017, and the third volume in June 2020.

Speech at the 19th Congress

Xi first made mention of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in the opening day speech delivered in the 19th Party Congress in October 2017. In reviews of Xi's keynote address at the Congress, Xi's Politburo Standing Committee (top decision-making body) colleagues prepended the decision with "Xi Jinping."

The 19th Congress affirmed the ideology as a guiding political and military ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and approved the incorporation of the ideology into the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. The affirmation received unanimous support as every delegate voted to approve by raising hands when Xi asked their opinions on the Congress. The incorporation made Xi the third Chinese leader after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping whose names appeared in the list of fundamental doctrines of the Chinese Communist Party, which raised Xi above his two most recent predecessors, former General Secretaries Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin. In his report, Xi promised to make China strong, propelling the country into a "new era."

Xi has described the thought as part of the broad framework created around socialism with Chinese characteristics, a term coined by Deng Xiaoping, which places China in the "primary stage of socialism."

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