The New Zhijiang Army (), also known as the Xi Jinping faction (), is a term used by observers to represent political figures in the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

who are closely related to

CCP general secretary The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader ...

Xi Jinping, most prominently those who held important provincial and local posts during

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...

's term as

Communist Party Secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...

province. The "new army" refers to people who were closely associated with Xi and identifies with his political views, and who have since then taken on prominent political posts at the provincial level or in central party and state organs. The term was first widely used by Ma Haoliang (), editor at Hong Kong-based newspaper ''

Ta Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'') is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government after the Chinese Civil War ...

'' in an article entitled the ''New Zhijiang Army of Chinese Politics''. The term ''Zhijiang'' refers to the

Qiantang River The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River and alternatively romanised as the Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangz ...

, which runs through the province, but is often used as a poetic reference for the greater Zhejiang region. The term was initially used as title to Xi Jinping's book '' Zhijiang Xinyu'' (), a book compiling the political philosophies of Xi Jinping during his five-year term as party chief of Zhejiang, published in 2007. The people close to Xi Jinping have also been referred to as "Xi Clan" ().

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Other politicians have been named by Chinese-language media as associates of Xi Jinping. They have known or worked under him as a result of their regional tenures in

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

province (Xi's "home province"), the southeast (Zhejiang and

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

provinces), or through

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...

, where Xi spent time in his youth. Those named include

Wang Qishan Wang Qishan (; ; born 19 July 1948) is a Chinese politician, and the current Vice President of the People's Republic of China. Wang is one of the leading figures behind China's foreign affairs, along with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Ke ...

Li Zhanshu Li Zhanshu (; born August 30, 1950) is a Chinese politician, and the current outgoing chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Chinese Speaker. He was the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committe ...

, Liu He, Chen Xi,

He Yiting He Yiting (; born 1952) is a Chinese ideologist and politician. Since 2013, He has served as the executive vice president of the Central Party School (rank equivalent of minister), the top ideological indoctrination institution of the Chinese Com ...

, Wang Xiaohong,

Li Shulei Li Shulei (; born January 1964) is a Chinese politician who is the current head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Previously, he s ...

, and

Huang Xingguo Huang Xingguo (; born October 1954) was the Mayor of Tianjin, and, between 2015 and 2016, the acting Communist Party Secretary of Tianjin.

(since disgraced). In the military, Liu Yuan,

Zhang Youxia Zhang Youxia (; born July 1950) is a general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China and currently the second-ranked Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Central Military Commission (CMC). He previously served as Head ...

, and Liu Yazhou have been named as some of Xi's top associates.Reuters via Deutsche Welle
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{{Portal bar, China, Politics Factions of the Chinese Communist Party Zhejiang

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References