Xi spent several days in Iowa, where he learned about farming, visited agricultural fields and stayed with a local family. Chinese state media later highlighted his stay at the family’s home and his friendship with Terry Branstad, who was governor of Iowa at the time. Branstad later became the US ambassador to China during Donald Trump’s presidency. Through those accounts, Chinese state media sought to highlight Xi’s personal connections with the United States.
Today, relations between China and the United States are vastly different. The two countries are competing for global influence, imposing tariffs on each other, restricting access to technology and intensifying competition in the military sphere.
At 73, Xi is no longer a relatively junior official. During nearly 14 years as China’s leader, he has established China as a major force on the global stage.
Born in Beijing in 1953, Xi is the sixth child of Communist revolutionary Xi Zhongxun. His father helped establish the People’s Republic of China and later became a senior Communist Party leader and vice premier.
Xi attended prestigious schools as a child and had access to opportunities that were unavailable to most families at the time.
Then politics turned against his family.
In the early 1960s, Xi Zhongxun was accused of belonging to an “anti-party” faction. He was expelled from the party and sent to a factory in the countryside to work.
Xi was treated as the son of a man portrayed as being “against the revolution.” During his teenage years, he was forcibly sent to a re-education centre. At the time, leader Mao Zedong had urged young people to go to the countryside and learn from farmers. At the age of 15, Xi joined millions of young people sent from cities to rural areas.
In a 2004 interview, he recalled that journey, saying, “Everyone was crying on the train. Only I was smiling... If I had not been able to leave, I would have been crying too. If I had stayed there, I don’t know whether I would even be alive today.”
Xi arrived in the mountainous village of Liangjiahe in China’s western Shaanxi province. He spent seven years there living in a yaodong, a cave-like dwelling built into the side of a hill. He farmed, carried manure and dug trenches.
He later recalled his time there, saying, “Pickled vegetables became my favourite food. Even today, I miss that time very much.”
The workload shocked him, while hunger and fleas were among the difficulties he faced initially. The brief period he was allowed to smoke a cigarette before lunch offered some relief.
Xi left the village at the age of 22 and studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University, one of China’s leading educational institutions.
After completing his studies, he worked as a local official away from Beijing. He was posted to coastal provinces including Fujian and Zhejiang. After China opened its economy in the 1980s, those provinces became among the country’s wealthiest regions.
Following Mao’s death, Xi Zhongxun returned to politics. This helped Xi secure positions in the central government and military, where he built relationships with several party officials.
Xi married Ke Lingling in 1979. It was his first marriage. She was the daughter of China’s former ambassador to Britain. The couple divorced three years later.
A mutual friend introduced Xi to his second and current wife, Peng Liyuan. Peng was a military-linked folk singer who was already famous in China. She performed on television programmes broadcast every Lunar New Year that were watched by hundreds of millions of people.
During the 1980s and 1990s, many Chinese people knew Peng better than they knew her husband, who was then a provincial official.
Peng frequently accompanies Xi on foreign trips, breaking with the earlier tradition of Chinese first ladies maintaining a lower public profile.
Their daughter and only child, Xi Mingze, was born in 1992. Little information is publicly available about her. It is known that she studied at Harvard University in the United States.
In 2007, after briefly serving as Shanghai’s top leader, Xi joined the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s highest decision-making body.
Five years later, he replaced Hu Jintao as leader of the Communist Party.
After becoming China’s leader, Xi introduced changes to the country’s economic and political systems that few people had expected.
During Xi’s 14 years in power, China’s confidence has continued to grow.
Through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi expanded China’s influence in other countries while presenting Beijing as a voice for the Global South.
At the same time, China’s relations with several major democracies became more strained. Tensions increased in the South China Sea, pressure on Taiwan intensified and competition with the United States accelerated.
Another defining feature of Xi’s rule has been increased political control inside China.
Under Xi, China has placed greater emphasis on security and political stability. A series of measures have been implemented in places including Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Xi’s supporters say the measures restored order, while critics argue that they significantly reduced civil liberties.
Xi has also promoted a political ideology that includes his name. It is known as “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.” Before Xi, China’s two previous leaders had not succeeded in having their names incorporated into their political ideologies.
Xi also removed the constitutional limit on presidential terms, opening the way for him to remain in office beyond two terms.
Chinese state media portrays Xi as a serious figure, although glimpses of a lighter side of his personality have occasionally emerged.
He has spoken about his love of football and jokingly expressed his disappointment to Thailand’s prime minister over the performance of China’s men’s football team.
He also drank beer with former British Prime Minister David Cameron. When giving South Korea’s president a China-made Xiaomi phone as a gift, Xi jokingly suggested checking it for any “backdoor” before accepting it.
Xi’s relationships with foreign leaders have changed over time, reflecting shifts in China’s foreign policy priorities.
No relationship with another foreign leader is closer to Xi’s than his ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Since Xi came to power, the two have met more than 40 times. Xi has also described Putin as his “closest confidant.”
Xi’s relationship with Trump has been more complicated. Despite launching a trade war with China, Trump has often spoken warmly about Xi, calling him a friend and praising his political power.
Xi also initially placed considerable emphasis on building a personal relationship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two held meetings without a formal agenda and sought to demonstrate cooperation between the two major Asian countries. But after deadly clashes along the border in 2020, relations between the two countries reached their worst level in several decades.
Unlike leaders known for personal charm or sudden decisions, Xi rarely places personal relationships above China’s national interests.
When Xi arrives in Washington, DC, again this week, he will not be travelling as the curious county-level official who once visited Iowa’s farms, but as a leader who has become a major force in shaping 21st-century politics.
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