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Like many senior managers of China's growing cities, Xi Jinping likes to talk about the nuts and bolts of urban planning: a new airport, a superhighway, more drinking water for residents of this port city along the country's southern coast. But more than some of his counterparts elsewhere, Xi, who is the Communist Party secretary here, may have a chance of accomplishing such projects because of the network of personal ties available to him as the son of one of China's important party elders. At age 39, Xi is the top official running Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, and several nearby counties -- an area whose population totals 5.4 million. While many Chinese say he has worked hard to reach his position, there is no doubt that his family background played an important role, Chinese sources said. His father, Xi Zhongxun, 79, is vice chairman of the National People's Congress, the country's nominal parliament. He is reported to be in poor health but still influential. Xi is one of a small group of children of top leaders that is widely expected to rise to greater political prominence. Now that senior leader Deng Xiaoping has called for bolder, market-oriented reform and the promotion of talented, younger cadres, officials like Xi are seen as being especially well-positioned to advance further. His experience and outlook provide some insight into this group of young officials often referred to by Chinese as the "princelings" because of their special status. Tall even by Western standards, Xi dresses like many Chinese men of his generation: black leather jacket, sweater, shirt, and, in wintertime, standard-issue long underwear peeking out from under the cuffs. But as he chatted with a visitor in a private sitting room of a government-run guest house, he seemed considerably more at ease and confident than many Chinese cadres his age. Settling his long frame comfortably in one of the blue fake-leather armchairs, he offered his guests tea, oranges, watermelon seeds and preserved fruit, a specialty of the south. He consulted no notes as he spewed out figures about the area's growth, investment, and plans to overtake its bustling neighbor to the south, the port city of Xiamen, formerly Amoy, where he was vice mayor. He answered questions about economics, politics and his personal background without hesitation. Several aides took notes. One took pictures. Xi said China should keep its socialist system, but he repeatedly underscored the overriding importance of economic development, economic reform and the foreign cooperation needed to bring that about. "We want foreign investment and we want to bring in advanced technology," he said. "We aren't picky about whether you are a large, medium or small company." Referring to the growing economic interdependence of southern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said, "This area has its own natural economic contacts that will accelerate development." Because of the area's proximity to Taiwan, most foreign investment is coming from Taiwanese who trace their roots to Fujian -- and from Japanese. But Xi has set up a sister city relationship with Syracuse, N.Y., and is hoping to travel there this year to persuade American business to invest in his city. Xi's father was a top leader in the northwest before being disgraced during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76. All seven children were persecuted as well. One daughter died. The younger Xi recalled being locked up "three or four times" when he was 15 because of his father's crimes. Banished to Yenan, the revolutionary base of the party, he had to attend daily "struggle" sessions, where he often was forced to read out denunciations of his father. "Even if you don't understand, you are forced to understand," he said with a trace of bitterness. "It makes you mature earlier." For seven years, he worked as a farm laborer, an agricultural technician, tractor-trailer driver, and barefoot doctor. In what he described as an ironic twist, he was elected a local branch party secretary in his last two years. Just before the Cultural Revolution ended, Xi was allowed to enter prestigious Qinghua University in Beijing, China's most prominent technological school, where he graduated in 1979, at 28, specializing in the petrochemical industry. He was immediately given a plum assignment, working as the personal assistant to Geng Biao, a vice premier who also served briefly as defense minister. In 1982, Xi was sent to work at the local level, as a party secretary in a poor county in Hebei Province. Eventually he became the vice mayor of Xiamen, where he is credited with pushing that city's economic reform and open-door policies, before arriving in Fuzhou in the spring of 1990. Xi said he has gotten where he is on his own ability and popularity. Asked about possible future promotions, he politely deferred to the needs of the party. He pointed to an election in Xiamen a few years ago in which he received all but a handful of votes among several vice mayoral candidates in a secret ballot. "I don't think it's a trend that sons and daughters of the leadership cadres must be leaders, too," he said. "We should follow the procedures to promote cadres. . . . I haven't done a lot of research on this, nor do I have a lot of contacts {with others}. I just do my own work." Subscriber sign inUnblock ads Contact us

Like many senior managers of China's growing cities, Xi Jinping likes to talk about the nuts and bolts of urban planning: a new airport, a superhighway, more drinking water for residents of this port city along the country's southern coast. But more than some of his counterparts elsewhere, Xi, who is the Communist Party secretary here, may have a chance of accomplishing such projects because of the network of personal ties available to him as the son of one of China's important party elders. At age 39, Xi is the top official running Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, and several nearby...

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