Xi Jinping Thought

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly abbreviated outside China as Xi Jinping Thought or Xi-ism, is a political doctrine created during the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping of the Chinese Communist Party that combines Chinese Marxism and national rejuvenation.
In January 2013, Xi's speech at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012 were collectively termed "General Secretary Xi Jinping's Series of Important Speeches", followed by a campaign within the CCP to study Xi's speeches. These developed into Xi Jinping Thought, which was first officially mentioned at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2017, which incorporated it into the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. At the first session of the 13th National People's Congress on 11 March 2018, the preamble of the Constitution of China was amended to mention Xi Jinping Thought.
According to the CCP, the Thought "builds on and further enriches" previous party ideologies and has also been called as the "Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century" and "a new breakthrough in the Sinicization of Marxism". It is a component of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the development of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Three Represents and the Scientific Outlook on Development. The theory's main elements are summarized in the ten affirmations, the fourteen commitments, the thirteen areas of achievements, and the six musts.

Terminology

In official CCP discourse, Xi Jinping Thought is referred to as "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era", or Xi Jinping Thought on a specific field, such as Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy. The "New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" refers to the historical period of China beginning from 2012 after the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP says that the new era is "both consistent with and significantly different from the development of the past nearly 40 years of reform and opening up".
As of at least early 2024, the CCP does not use "Xi Jinping Thought" in official discourses. In English, "Xi Jinping Thought" is the most common usage, with others including Xi Thought and Xiism.

History and development

"Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era" was formally launched 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. News sources have stated that Xi helped create this ideology together with his close advisor, then director of the Central Policy Research Office 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 the newly elected Central Committee on 5 January 2013, and was later published by Central Documents Press and the journal Qiushi.

Speech at the 18th Congress

Much of Xi Jinping Thought comes from Xi's 2013 speech delivered at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, delivered a month after he became the CCP General Secretary. Beginning his speech, Xi said:

First of all: Socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism, not any other "ism." The guiding principles of scientific socialism thus cannot be abandoned. Our Party has always emphasized adherence to the basic principles of scientific socialism, but adapted to the particular conditions of China. This means that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism, not some other doctrine... It was Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought that guided the Chinese people out of the long night and established a New China, and it was socialism with Chinese characteristics that led to the rapid development of China.

According to Xi, "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 Engels' 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 bound to win." Xi also stated: "The fundamental reason why some of our comrades have weak ideals and faltering beliefs is that their views lack a firm grounding in historical materialism."
Xi showed great interest in why the Soviet Union dissolved, and how to avoid that failure in China:

Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 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 Union, negating the history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 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 Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a great party, was scattered, the Soviet Union, a great socialist country, disintegrated. This is a cautionary tale!

In January 2013, Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan referred to Xi's speech as the "General Secretary Xi Jinping's Series of Important Speeches". This was followed by Organization Department Director Zhao Leji and CCP General Office Director Li Zhanshu ordering provincial and ministerial officials to study Xi's speeches. In November 2013, Liu announced that the Central Party School would launch a training program on General Secretary Xi Jinping's whole series of important remarks; by 2014, seven cohorts of provincial cadres, numbering 2,300, had completed the program. Liu's announcement was followed by a meeting by Li Zhansu regarding the speech for heads of the party units directly under the Central Committee.
In June 2014, the Publicity Department published Reader of General Secretary Xi Jinping's Series of Important Speeches, which the Publicity and Organization Departments ordered to be mandatory, leading party schools and universities to incorporate the book into their curricula. The concepts were further elaborated in Xi's The Governance of China book series, published by the Foreign Languages Press for an international audience. Volume one was published in September 2014, followed by volume two in November 2017, followed by volume three in June 2020, followed by volume four in July 2022. Xi has praised Karl Marx as "the greatest thinker of modern times" whose teachings enlightened the working classes of the world and has called upon party cadres to adopt Marxist revolutionary principles as a "way of life".
At the fourth plenum of the 18th Central Committee in October 2014, CCP members were required to "implement deeply the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important remarks". In October 2015, at the fifth plenum of the 18th Central Committee, Xi introduced "new visions, new thoughts, and new strategies for governing the country and administrating the regime". In February 2016, the Central Committee announced the "Two Studies and One Action" campaign, which asked all CCP members "to study the Party Constitution and rules, and speeches of Xi Jinping, and to become qualified Party members". In February 2017, at a meeting of the CCP General Office, Li Zhanshu Xi's visions, thoughts and strategies "have already preliminarily become a complete theoretical system". In May 2017, Liu Yushan said that General Secretary Xi Jinping's whole series of important remarks were "the latest achievement of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "latest development of Marxism in modern China". The first public usage of Xi Jinping sixiang came in 2017 when Liu Mingfu and Wang Zhongyuan published a book by that name.

Speech at the 19th Congress

Xi first used the phrase "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" in his speech delivered on the opening day of the 19th Party Congress in October 2017. The Politburo Standing Committee then prepended "Xi Jinping" to the phrase, in their review of his speech. The Congress then affirmed Xi's speech as a guiding political and military ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and approved its incorporation into the constitution of the party, with unanimous support in a show of hands. The incorporation made Xi the third Chinese leader to have their names incorporated into the list of fundamental doctrines of the CCP. This demonstrated that Xi was more influential than his two predecessors as General Secretary. Xi promised to make China strong, propelling the country into a "new era". He stated that the primary contradiction of China's conditions in the new era as "the contradiction between the people's ever-growing need for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development." In this context, "unbalanced" refers to rural-urban inequalities, regional inequalities, inequalities between the rich and poor, and structural imbalances in the economy. "Inadequate" refers to household income share.
At the first session of the 13th National People's Congress on 11 March 2018, the preamble of the Constitution of China was amended to mention Xi Jinping Thought. In September 2018, the Two Upholds, referring to "resolutely uphold the status of General Party Secretary Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Central and the whole party, as well as the Party Central's authority and centralized and unified leadership", was first put forward. In 2021, the sixth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved of the Resolution on the Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party over the Past Century, which declared Xi Jinping Thought "a new breakthrough in the Sinicization of Marxism". The document says the Thought is the "Marxism of contemporary China and of the 21st century and embodies the best Chinese culture and ethos of this era". It also for the first time credited Xi as being the "main innovator" of Xi Jinping Thought. The document put forward the Two Establishments, referring to "establish the status of comrade Xi Jinping as the core of the Party Central and the whole party" and "establish the guiding status of Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era".