Time is a politician’s most precious resource. Every decision to attend a meeting, launch an initiative, or deliver a speech involves trade-offs. Unlike budgets or personnel, time cannot be expanded or replenished. How a leader allocates their time reveals their priorities. Xi Jinping is acutely aware of this reality. “To realise the China Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we must race against time,” he declared in January 2020. State media claimed that on an “ordinary day,” Xi sleeps just six hours and works through every meal. Li Zhanshu, Xi’s former chief of staff, summarised his work tempo in one word.
“fast.” This urgency helps explain why Xi wants to become the “chairman of everything,” replacing collective leadership with personalised rule, sidelining colleagues, and centralising decision-making within Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bodies under his direct control. Yet even a leader as powerful and driven as Xi cannot do everything. So how does Xi spend his time? It is impossible to know for sure, but a useful proxy could be official statements about actions that he has taken “personally” (qinzi).
In particular, CCP media have mentioned several policies that Xi has “personally planned, personally arranged, and personally promoted” (qinzi mouhua, qinzi bushu, qinzi tuidong). The Center for China Analysis has compiled a database of these policies. Analysis suggests that Xi pays special attention to regional development projects, internal CCP governance, and environmental protection. Notably absent are indications of personal involvement in key political economy issues such as consumption, demographics, healthcare, public finance, and welfare reform.
For policymakers and businesses seeking leverage or opportunity in China, understanding Xi’s priorities is a critical starting point.The word qinzi is an everyday term in Chinese but has historically been far less common in the language of elite politics. Leaders might be described as doing something “personally” if they attended an event, chaired a meeting, or issued an instruction, but in the post-Mao era it was rare for CCP discourse to portray paramount leaders Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, or Hu Jintao as “personally” initiating or directing policies (see Figure 1).
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