Naming Xi as China's 'core' may reflect power and weakness

China's President Xi Jinping has collected titles ranging from National Security Council chief to good old "Uncle Xi." Along the way, he's used state media to make his views known on such seemingly apolitical topics as avant garde architecture and celebrity culture. That's not unusual for a national leader, but in China such labels and such opinions are taken extremely seriously — and the latter, in Xi's case, are sometimes translated directly into government policy in China's top-down, autocratic one-party system. They underscore the tremendous clout Xi has accumulated over his three years as president, which now seems set to rise still further. Read more