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：

　　BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- The new helmsman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Xi Jinping has been acclaimed as a leader advocating reform and the China Dream and bringing a fresh breeze into China's political life。

　　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 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 Jinping。

　　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。

　　"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。

　　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, the Party's top decision-making body, after working for decades in various locations, including Shanghai Municipality, the provinces of Shaanxi, Hebei, Fujian and Zhejiang, as well as 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. Beginning in 2008, he worked intensively on the campaign to study and implement the Scientific Outlook on 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。

　　He became CMC vice chairman in 2010 and was named CMC chairman at the first plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee。

　　In 2008, Xi was also tasked with heading up preparations for the much-anticipated 2008 Olympic Games and the subsequent Paralympics, playing a key role in China's hosting of these high-standard events with distinctive features。

　　BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, the newly elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, has a unique experience as an "educated youth" in rural China when he was a young man. Xi is believed to be deeply steeled by his early years。

　　A son of Xi Zhongxun, a Communist revolutionary hero 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 a city 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。

　　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。

　　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。

　　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 his destination. 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 houses and guided fishermen to live better lives on the land。

　　When working as Party chief of Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, 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 Zhejiang Daily, using the pen name Zhexin. In his column, he discussed everyday problems of interest to the common people in 232 articles。

　　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。

　　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。

　　BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Throughout the political career of Xi Jinping, now general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, people have seen his foresight as well as his willingness to sacrifice personal gain and one-time fame。

　　When working in Zhengding, Hebei Province in the early 1980s, he saw potential business opportunities when he learned that the crew of "The Dream of Red Mansions," a popular novel-turned-TV drama, was looking for a filming location。

　　He then proposed building in Zhengding a large residential compound featured within the novel. The compound, which was used by the TV crew, later became a tourist attraction。

　　Tourist income from the compound exceeded 10 million yuan the year it was completed, paying back more than the investment. The compound has so far been used by more than 170 movies and TV dramas, with up to more than 1.3 million tourists every year。

　　When working in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian, he took charge of drafting a development plan for the city from 1985 to 2000 and lobbied for preferential policies from the central government, both of which benefited the city long after he left the province。

　　In Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province, he and his colleagues devised a strategic development plan for the city for the coming three, eight and 20 years. All the main targets set by the plan were achieved years ago, and a number of enterprises that were set up or brought to Fuzhou when Xi served there remain the industry leaders, playing a significant role in the city's development over the past two decades。

　　Working as Fujian governor, he was the first in the country to launch a campaign to crack down on food contamination。

　　In 1999, he first put forward the idea of improving IT infrastructure and introducing information technology to help the public. Fujian had been the only province in China where all hospitals are linked by computer networks and share digital medical records before 2010.

　　In 2002, Fujian launched the reform of the collective forest property right system, becoming the first in the country。

　　During Xi's tenure, Fujian was among the first provinces in China to adopt special policies to restore ecological balance and protect the environment. This has made Fujian the province with the best water and air quality as well as the best ecology and environment in the country。

　　After his transfer to Zhejiang Province in 2002, Xi put forward numerous development targets for the economy, public security, culture, the environment and the rule of law。

　　In 2004, under Xi's leadership, Zhejiang made an attempt to improve grassroots democracy. Villages there set up residents' committees to supervise the village Party committee and administrative committee on public affairs, a move that received a positive response from the public。

　　Village supervision committees, which sprang from the Zhejiang model, were later introduced in an amendment to the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees in 2010 by the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top legislative body。

　　Shanghai was Xi's last local post before he was promoted to the central leadership. Despite a relatively short term in the country's financial capital, he left his mark by promoting the economic integration of the Yangtze River Delta and enhancing Shanghai's leading role in the region。

　　BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, newly-elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has long underscored solid work, as showcased by his recent remarks that "making empty talk is harmful to the nation, while doing practical work can help it thrive."

　　To put "practical work" in place, Xi presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee that adopted eight measures to improve Party work style and tighten the bond with the people。

　　The measures include more meetings with the people, traveling light with a small entourage and using fewer traffic controls, shortening meetings and speeches. The new measures have earned acclaim both at home and abroad。

　　"Only solid work ensures that one will take the lead," Xi has said。

　　When he served in Zhengding County, Hebei Province, Xi said that developing human resources was the key to shaking off poverty and backwardness in the county. He attended to the job himself by inviting professionals to the county and drawing up recruitment advertisements for talented personnel from across the country。

　　In the winter of 1983, he traveled to the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang to invite a cosmetics expert to work in Zhengding. Without a detailed address for the expert, he went door to door asking where the expert lived and finally found him at night after yelling his name near his home. Xi and the expert talked until midnight and Xi finally persuaded the man to work in Zhengding. The expert later created more than 300,000 yuan in revenue for the county within the first year。

　　In the same year, Xi decided to publish nine ways for recruiting talented personnel, something that was rare at the time and became a headline story in the Hebei Daily。

　　In Ningde, Fujian, Xi was also practical and realistic. He pooled resources to implement aquaculture of the large yellow croaker, a local specialty, and greatly increased the income of local farmers。

　　He also ordered Party and government offices to make things convenient for the people. When serving in Fuzhou, he advocated the principle of "special procedures for special issues, and do things now" to make the government more efficient. This principle was attractive to numerous Taiwan enterprises and helped boost the local economy. He also proposed the compilation of two handbooks on government procedures for residents and overseas businesspeople。

　　In 2000, Xi initiated a move across Fujian to make the government more efficient. He proposed changes in government functions and procedures to reduce the number of matters that require government approval. By the end of 2001, the number was reduced by 40.4 percent, or 606 items。

　　In 2001, Fujian became the first province in China to enact a policy making government affairs public。

　　In Zhejiang, Xi stressed provincial development in the fields of public security, the environment, culture, rule of law and the marine economy。

　　To achieve these goals, he made an individual case study in addition to making overall arrangements. In order to know how the localities were affected by provincial policies, he went five times to a less-developed mountain village called Xiajiang within less than two years。

　　He also pushed for the construction of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, an icon of cross-sea bridges in China and once the world' s longest cross-sea bridge。

　　Zhejiang had realized the development targets one by one during Xi's tenure there. The province had the highest rating in ecology and the environment among all provincial-level regions in 2005. In 2006, 94.77 percent of the people were satisfied with the province's public security, making Zhejiang one of the safest provinces in the country。

　　During Xi's tenure in Zhejiang, the province's GDP exceeded 1 trillion yuan in 2004, GDP per capita exceeded 3,000 U.S. dollars in 2005 and stood at nearly 4,000 U.S. dollars in 2006. The province ranked fourth in sustainable development in 2006, next to Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin。

　　Furthermore, all the province's poverty-stricken counties and townships shook off poverty during the period。

　　In 2007, Xi was appointed secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee。

　　Within a month of his appointment, Xi conducted research on the people' s livelihood, development, the Shanghai World Expo, and the fight against corruption. The ninth Shanghai municipal congress of the CPC was successfully held, which invigorated local officials, rebuilt Shanghai's image and set forth a blueprint for Shanghai for the next five years。

　　BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Xinhua picture released on Sunday of a young Xi Jinping shows the now general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) clad in military uniform and wearing an easy smile。

　　Xi started his career as a serviceman。

　　The up-and-coming young man, 26 years old, looking clean-cut and energetic in the photo, was serving at the time in the General Office of the Central Military Commission (CMC)。

　　He worked from 1979 to 1982 as secretary to Geng Biao, a key military strategist who contributed to the founding of the People's Republic of China. Geng was a soldier-turned-diplomat who resumed his military post in 1979.

　　Xi is epaulet-free in the picture since China abolished the rank system in 1965 and didn't restore it until 1980s。

　　Xi's service years may offer a clue to his close attention to the development of China's military。

　　In another picture, Xi, who now chairs the CMC and is the commander-in-chief of China's 2.3-million-strong armed forces, comes to "lunch and learn" with soldiers in a canteen during his latest inspection at the Guangzhou military theater of operations of the People's Liberation Army。

　　With a modest portion of food on his dinner plate, Xi appears to be listening carefully to the comments of a young serviceman, about the age Xi was when he served in the military。

　　During his three-day inspection beginning on Dec. 8, Xi called on the armed forces to strengthen the capacity to wage a multifaceted, regional war in the Information Age, and to "adopt real combat criteria in military training and intensify such awareness among soldiers."