China’s ‘Historical Resolution’ celebrating Xi Jinping
By: Nitya Jadeja
Jan 20, 2022
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) adopted a historic resolution on November 11, 2021 codifying President Xi Jinping’s power. This week’s graph looks at the historical trend in the characteristics of Chinese leaders. V-Dem’s Person of the Leader Index measures the extent to which the Chief Executive is portrayed as having extraordinary leadership skills. The Ideology Index looks at the extent to which the government promotes an ideology. Both indices scored very high under President Mao Zedong (1949-1959) and then declined substantially. The person of the leader index approached Mao’s level in 2017 when Xi became the General Secretary of the CCP and began his second term as the President. The ideology index also hits a new high in 2018 when Xi has established his political thought in the party’s constitution. Xi seems to be following Mao’s footsteps in cementing his power and pursuing an indefinite term as China’s leader.
