W hen Soviet architect Sergei Andreyev designed the Beijing Exhibition Centre more than six decades ago, it symbolised the awkward alliance between Chairman Mao’s China and the USSR. In the autumn of 2017 it has become a monument to just one man.
“Maybe he’s our idol,” grins Huang Xingchen, a 28-year-old policeman and one of thousands of Xi Jinping fans to stream into the 1950s expo hall since a show trumpeting the feats of China’s current leader opened there last week. Officially, the Five Years On exhibit – timed to mark the end of Xi’s first term in power – is a celebration of the advances China as a whole has made in that time. But Xi, whose supremacy will take centre stage when a key Communist party congress kicks off in Beijing on 18 October, is the undoubted star of the show.
“Maybe he’s our idol,” grins Huang Xingchen, a 28-year-old policeman and one of thousands of Xi Jinping fans to stream into the 1950s expo hall since a show trumpeting the feats of China’s current leader opened there last week. Officially, the Five Years On exhibit – timed to mark the end of Xi’s first term in power – is a celebration of the advances China as a whole has made in that time. But Xi, whose supremacy will take centre stage when a key Communist party congress kicks off in Beijing on 18 October, is the undoubted star of the show.
