这张摄于1988年的资料照片显示，时任中共福建省宁德地委书记的习近平在去农村调研期间参与劳作。
这张资料图片拍摄于2012年12月份，习近平在广州军区视察时与士兵一起午餐。
新华社英文今晚推出“中共高层新阵容”系列人物特稿。以下为介绍习近平同志的长篇特写：
Profile: Xi Jinping: Man of the people, statesman of vision
BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- It was a pleasant early December morning in a verdant park in Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province. Early risers, carrying on their usual morning exercise, did not expect to see a big name。
The park was not cordoned. There was no red carpet nor were there people waving welcoming banners。
A middle-aged man in a dark suit, and a tieless white shirt, laid a wreath at the park's statue of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. Then he walked into the surrounding crowd and began a casual chat。
The visitor was Xi Jinping, the newly elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee。
During his visit to Guangdong, Xi called on the entire Party and people from all ethnic groups to unswervingly adhere to the path of reform and opening up and put greater focus on pursuing reform in a more systematic, integrated and coordinated way. Xi vowed no stop in reform, and no stop in opening up。
In his first visit outside Beijing as the top CPC leader, Xi went to Guangdong, the forefront of China's reform and opening up, following the route Deng had toured 20 years ago when the country was at a crossroad。
Media reports remarked that Xi is a leader who brings a fresh breeze to the country's political life, unswervingly pushes forward reform and opening up, and is beginning to lead the Chinese nation in realizing the China Dream。
Xi, 59, who was elected to his new role at the first plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee on Nov. 15, is the first top Party leader born after 1949, the year the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded。
He now leads the 91-year-old CPC, the world largest political party with more than 82 million members, as it rules China, the world's second largest economy。
The whole country and the world are putting their eyes on Xi:
-- What will he do to lead the CPC to better serve the people?
-- What will he do to lead China's 1.3 billion people to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC in 2021? Furthermore, what will he do to lead the people to achieve the goal of building an affluent, strong, democratic, civilized and harmonious modern socialist country by the time the PRC marks its centennial in 2049?
-- What will he do to lead the country to make its due contribution to world peace and development?
As he met the press on the November day the new leadership was formed, Xi summed up the CPC's mission as comprising three responsibilities -- to the nation, the people and the Party。
ADVOCATE OF CHINA DREAM
"The people's longing for a good life is what we are fighting for," Xi said in his first public speech as general secretary on Nov. 15.
Shortly after taking office, Xi and the other six members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee visited the exhibition "The Road Toward Renewal" at the National Museum of China. The comprehensive display illustrates the huge challenges China has surmounted on the road to national revival since 1840.
"Nowadays, everyone is talking about the China Dream," he said. "In my view, realizing the great renewal of the Chinese nation is the Chinese nation's greatest dream in modern history."
To achieve this sacred goal, Xi has clarified his positions on various aspects of the country's development:
On the country's economic development, Xi opposes a blind focus on growth and upholds the principle of scientific development, which seeks sustainability in terms of both resources and the environment。
On political development, he stresses the idea that all power belongs to the people, and calls for active and steady political reform while adhering to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. He also stresses the rule of law and exercising state power according to the Constitution。
On cultural development, he highlights developing human talent and fostering a Chinese national spirit, especially as typified by the words of the national anthem: "We will use our flesh and blood to build our new Great Wall."
On social development, he proposes continuous efforts to safeguard and improve people's lives through economic development. He also supports building a harmonious society and realizing a good life for the people based on hard work, while taking into consideration the country's practical circumstances。
On ecological progress, he emphasizes a national strategy of resource conservation and environmental protection and a sustainable pattern of development。
From the Loess Plateau to the southeast coast, from localities to the central leadership, Xi has had a well-rounded political career and has developed a deep understanding of the conditions of his country and people。
In 2007, he was promoted to the nine-member Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 17th CPC Central Committee, after working for decades in various locations, including Shanghai Municipality, the provinces of Shaanxi, Hebei, Fujian and Zhejiang, as well as serving the army。
He served concurrently as a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and as president of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee. In 2008, he was elected the country's vice president。
Over the past five years, he has participated in the creation of major policies for the Party and the country, and has gained rich leadership experience in all respects。
During that time, Xi was in charge of Party affairs and attached great importance to Party building. He reiterated that the Party must police itself with strict standards as well as listen to the call of ordinary people。
Beginning in 2008, he worked intensively on the campaign to study and implement the Scientific Outlook on Development. The year-and-a-half campaign further made the Scientific Outlook on Development a consensus of the whole Party and country, and a driving force for economic and social development。
He also led a group of officials in drafting the 17th CPC Central Committee's report to the 18th CPC National Congress and the amendment to the CPC Constitution, which were adopted at the congress and have become important guidelines for China's future。
Xi has had a connection with the armed forces since his early days. After graduating from university, he worked at the General Office of the Central Military Commission (CMC) for three years, a job that deepened his affection for the army。
In the following years, he served concurrently as Party chief for military subareas in addition to holding his Party and government titles. He was familiarized with grassroots military affairs。
He became CMC vice chairman in 2010 and was named CMC chairman at the first plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November 2012.
Xi is also familiar with work related to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. His 17 years in Fujian gave him a deep understanding of Taiwan and enterprises from Taiwan. The first Taiwan chamber of commerce on the mainland was established in Xiamen when he worked in Fujian. He solved many problems for Taiwan compatriots, and has been seen as a good friend by many of them。
As a top leader in charge of Hong Kong and Macao affairs, Xi helped work out a number of important policies on the long-term stability and prosperity of the two special administrative regions。
In 2008 and 2009 when Hong Kong and Macao were seriously hit by the international financial crisis, Xi visited the cities to show his support。
In 2008, Xi was also tasked with heading up preparations for the much-anticipated 2008 Olympic Games and the subsequent Paralympics, both in Beijing, playing a key role in China's hosting of these high-standard events with distinctive features。
MAN OF THE PEOPLE
Xi has expressed his deep feelings for the people on many occasions, saying for example, "How important the people are in the minds of an official will determine how important officials are in the minds of the people." His love of the people stems from his unique upbringing。
A son of Xi Zhongxun, a Communist revolutionary and former vice premier, Xi Jinping did not live in comfort as a boy。
Beginning in 1962, when his father was wronged and fell in disgrace, Xi experienced tough times. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)， he suffered public humiliation and hunger, experienced homelessness and was even held in custody once。
At the age of 16, he volunteered to live in a small village in northwest China's Shaanxi Province as an "educated youth."
That area, part of the Loess Plateau, was where the Communist revolutionaries, including his father, rose to found New China。
Life there was tough for an urban youth. In the beginning, fleas troubled him so badly he could not even fall asleep. In the Shaanxi countryside, he had to do all sorts of harsh labor, such as carrying manure, hauling a coal cart, farming and building water tanks。
As time passed, tough work became easy. Xi became a hardworking capable young man in the villagers' eyes. By gaining their trust, he was elected village Party chief。
He led the farmers to reinforce the river bank in a bid to prevent erosion, organized a small cooperative of blacksmiths in the village, and built a methane tank, the first in landlocked Shaanxi。
He was once awarded a motorized tricycle after being named a "model educated youth." However, he exchanged the tricycle for a walking tractor, a flour milling machine and farm tools to benefit the villagers。
Although he was not in school, Xi never stopped reading. He brought a case of books to the village and was always "reading books as thick as bricks," recalled by villagers of Liangjiahe。
He formed close ties with the villagers during his seven years in the province. After he was recommended for enrollment at Tsinghua University in 1975, all the villagers queued to bid him farewell and a dozen young men walked more than 30 kilometers to take him to the county seat for his trip back to Beijing。
Xi has never forgotten the folks in the Shaanxi village. Even after he left, he helped the village get access to power, build a bridge and renovate a primary school. When he was Party chief of Fuzhou City, he returned to the village, going door by door to visit people. He gave senior villagers pocket money, and schoolchildren with new schoolbags, school supplies and alarm clocks. When a farmer friend got sick, Xi, then a senior provincial official of Fujian, at his own expense, brought him to Fujian for better medical treatment。
Years of toiling alongside villagers allowed him to get to know the countryside and farmers well. Xi has said that the two groups of people who have given him the greatest help in his life are the older revolutionary generation and the folks in the Shaanxi village where he lived。
He arrived in the village as a slightly lost teenager and left as a 22-year-old man determined to do something for the people。
Xi's affection for the common people influenced him as he made a number of critical decisions. In the 1980s when many of his contemporaries were going into business or leaving to study abroad, Xi gave up a comfortable office job in Beijing and went to work as deputy Party chief of a small county in north China's Hebei Province. Later he became Party chief of Ningde Prefecture in southeast China's Fujian Province, one of the poorest regions at the time。
The people weigh most in Xi's heart and grassroots units are where he pays most visits。
In Ningde, he sometimes traveled for days on the mountain roads to reach the farthest corner of the prefecture. The roads were so bumpy that he often had to take a break to recover from back pain before arriving at destinations. He once walked nearly five hours on a rugged mountain road to get to a township called Xiadang, which was not accessible by highway, and received the most passionate welcome from local residents, who said Xi was "the highest-ranking official who has come to the village."
He also helped thousands of farmers in Ningde renovate dilapidated thatched huts and guided fishermen to live better lives on the land。
When working as Party chief of Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, he took the lead in the country in establishing a mechanism for officials to meet with petitioners face to face. He introduced the same mechanism in places where he later served。
Once, he and other senior officials in Fuzhou met with more than 700 petitioners in two days。
While working in east China's Zhejiang Province, he went down into a coal mine nearly 1,000 meters underground and walked more than 1,500 meters along a narrow and inclined shaft to visit miners and see their working conditions before the Spring Festival in 2005.
Xi attaches importance to communication with the people via news media. He wrote a popular column for the Zhejiang Daily, using the pen name Zhexin. In his 232 columns, he discussed everyday problems of interest to the common people。
As mild a person as Xi is, he is very tough in policing officials and preventing them from harming the interests of the common people. In an investigation into illegal housing construction by officials in Ningde, he grew angry and pounded the table, saying, "Shall we offend hundreds of officials, or shall we fail millions of people?" Also, a number of officials in Zhejiang were punished during his tenure of leadership for failing to fulfill their duties。
His work style earned him the nickname "secretary of the people."
"Officials should love the people in the way they love their parents, work for their benefit and lead them to prosperity," Xi said。
