China's New Era

Annie Luman Ren and Ben Hillman

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The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping, has declared his rule to be a ‘New Era’ 新时代. The Party’s Third Historical Resolution of 2021, which cemented Xi’s place in history, declared his leadership ‘the key to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’. The Party distinguishes the New Era from the two previous eras in the history of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In the first—the Mao Zedong era (1940–78)—China stood up and threw off the yoke of Western and Japanese imperialism. The second era—the Deng Xiaoping era (1979–2012), which includes the administrations of Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping’s immediate predecessors—is recognised for its successful economic reforms and rapid industrial development. The third era (2013–), the era of Xi Jinping, promises to be the one in which China is restored to its place as one of the world’s great and powerful nations. This goal is encapsulated in the ‘China Dream’ and the two centennial goals that Xi Jinping set for his administration; namely, that China would become moderately prosperous by 2021, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and an advanced, high-income economy and global power by 2049.