OpinionA new year, a more open style of governance beckons in China

For three days in the last week of 2012, Xinhua published a series of reports profiling new Communist Party leaders Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, and the five other members of the Politburo Standing Committee. The reports talked about their careers and governance style, revealed their hobbies, and even included old photos of them at work and named their family members. In the feature on Xi, there were even stories or recent updates about his late father Xi Zhongxun, mother Qi Xin and wife Peng Liyuan. Even his daughter Xi Mingze was named.

It was the first time in decades that a government mouthpiece had reported in detail the personal information and family life of central party leaders. Not long ago, the Politburo released guidelines urging leaders to make their working style more transparent and personable; no doubt this series of reports was a step in the right direction. We can only hope that the next step involves the disclosure of the leaders' individual and family assets.

The party today is facing severe tests, as the report of its 18th national congress makes clear. It has to overcome challenges in governance, foreign policy and the economy, not to mention its reform drive. At the same time, it has to fight the threat of inertia, incompetence, disconnection with the people, and corruption.

The people are losing faith in the government, not only because officials have failed to honour what they had promised, but also because their abuse of power has become so rampant. The Bo Xilai case and the recent sex and corruption scandals bring home the point.

The people now expect their new leaders to roll out effective measures to curb corruption and fossilised bureaucratic thinking and practices. The leaders know it too. This is why when China's new Politburo members met the press recently, Xi Jinping firmly said that it was time for the party to wake up to the problems.

One way to overcome the tests of today is to draw lessons from the past. And the Xinhua reports show that many of the Politburo Standing Committee members saw themselves as upholding the party's moral traditions. Xi, for one, is known to have cautioned his friends and relatives about using his name to win favour from others: "No one can engage in any business activity at my workplace or do anything using my name; I won't look kindly on any errant behaviour even if you are family."

Zhang Gaoli, the former Tianjing party secretary and current Politburo Standing Committee member, has also said publicly that if anyone were to receive a request for a favour using his name, that person "should not entertain the request, should not give face, and approve nothing".