they come by the busload hundreds of
political pilgrims creasing the steps of
Chinese President Xi Jinping daily into
the rugged hills of northeast China
dusty yellow soil were the seeds of his
cult of personality now grow we're party
officials obediently line up to hear
legends of how she once waited barefoot
into freezing water to help the
villagers clear ice dams she was
banished here as a teen 50 years ago
from a family with a solid communist
pedigree caught in the purges of Mao
tse-tung's Cultural Revolution living in
this cave learning as the slogan says to
struggle hard and be self-reliant today
the required political lectures continue
around the village as were followed by
police and kept from interviewing anyone
such as the sensitivity to Xi's image
are sure to believe in this flag is to
believe in president sheaves as dooming
foot he lectured political thought at
China's Military College
y'all can't offend anybody yet as soon
as he came to power promoted the Chinese
dream he says the great rejuvenation of
our nation indeed as the most powerful
man in China the chairman of the party
and president did away with term limits
so he could rule for life she has made
nationalism his rallying cry surely to
me we will safeguard our sovereignty he
told the People's Congress any tricks to
split China are doomed
she has built the Chinese military force
unlike anything the world has seen here
his key aim is to reintegrate lost
territories like Hong Kong and Taiwan
possibly by force and to become world's
leading economic power challenging the
u.s. in every way to lay the groundwork
she has consolidated power at home with
a growing personal presence in a tough
dictatorial rule reining in any possible
dissent from Muslim Uighur by jailing
more than a million shutting down
churches and locking up human rights
activists cracking down on opposing
voices in the Communist Party still
there are some who challenge his vision
Jean Lee Fong is a historian VA China's
one-party dictatorship is very difficult
to sustain says the former member of the
respected Academy of Social Sciences
who's among few here not afraid to speak
out she is full of fantasies Jung says
he lives in the illusion of building a
great world empire and replacing the
u.s. but it's too huge and unrealistic
not so say the country's leaders who
point to China's rise which has been as
dramatic as she's own from those days in
the village and yet the permanence of
all this prosperity is not guaranteed
China's economy is slowing its military
is largely untested and this rise to
great power status is facing growing
resistance internationally Sasha petrol
sakes CBC News Beijing