With the installation of those close to Chinese President Xi in the CCP’s Politburo Standing Committee and other factional groups practically eliminated, it is no longer useful to construct new factions based on autobiographical information. It could even be said that Xi now does not even have to follow his own rules.
Politics
While Chinese politicians can be classified into different factional groups such as the princelings, the Shanghai gang, the Youth League group, and the Tsinghua clique, these are not necessarily functional factions in real politics. What is more pertinent is politicians’ relations with the paramount leader, Xi Jinping, who has in the last ten years tried to eliminate the various factions and lump them into one loosely connected “anti-Xi faction”. This is the second in a series of four articles on President Xi Jinping and the road ahead.