The chinese communist party has just finished its “third plenum”, a big meeting held roughly twice a decade devoted to long-term reform.
From July 15th to 18th more than 360 members of the party’s Central Committee—including the country’s most senior political and military leaders as well as bosses of state firms—sequestered themselves in a Beijing hotel to master the latest party doctrine on “Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernisation”.
It could have been worse. The most famous third plenum, held in 1978, lasted a day longer and followed a 36-day work conference in the same hotel attended by many of the same long-suffering delegates.
That plenum did, however, make history. It acknowledged some blunders, confirmed Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power and blessed a momentous opening-up of China’s economy.
During this week’s meeting, state media portrayed Xi Jinping, China’s ruler since 2012, as a reformer on a par with Deng, seized by a similar mission, with the courage to climb mountains where tigers lurk—a metaphor he has adopted to describe the challenge ahead. The coverage was clearly designed to raise high expectations for the meeting.
