Xi Jinping meets with delegates, specially invited delegates and non-voting participants of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Oct 25, 2017.[Photo/Xinhua]

A man who makes things happen

Five years ago, Xi, referred to by media as the first CPC chief of the social-media era, led the newly-elected members of the Standing Committee of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau to meet the press. "In just a few minutes, the man who will lead the world's most populous nation for the next 10 years laid out his agenda. In short: to make the Chinese nation great again, address the grievances of the people and root out corruption.... Mr. Xi used simple language easily understood by non-Party members," said the Financial Times.

"He does seem to have the personality and political strength to start quickly and out of the box," the report quoted expert on Chinese politics at Boston University Joseph Fewsmith as saying.

While praising his relaxed and confident demeanor, five years ago many took a wait-and-see attitude, as the new Chinese leader faced a plethora of headaches: a slowing economy, a widening wealth gap, corruption, and environmental woes. The waiting and seeing is now well and truly over. Already some speak of "historic change" when describing what happened in the ensuing 1,800-odd days.

A total of 360 major reform plans were put forward and over 1,500 reform measures launched, establishing a general framework for reform in major fields and lending greater impetus to growth.

The economy expanded at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent between 2013 and 2016, outstripping the 2.5-percent average global growth. More than 60 million people have bid goodbye to poverty. Hundreds of officials at or above provincial or corps level have been investigated for corruption and a campaign targeting undesirable working styles has ensured that the Party with over 89 million members stayed pure and grew stronger. The two million-strong Chinese military has reshaped its way of thinking and work style, organizational form and armament.

The "strictest environmental protection system" was put in place and numbers of officials were punished for insufficient work in this regard.