Echoes of Deng Xiaoping as Xi Jinping heads to Shenzhen on first inspection trip
New party boss evokes memories of ex-leader's 1992 tour and issues a signal of his commitment to change by heading to Shenzhen on first trip
Xi Jinping has decided Shenzhen will be the venue for his first inspection trip as the party's new general secretary.
It is a move political observers say pays tribute to the famous southern tour of Deng Xiaoping in 1992 and sends a signal of commitment to deepening reform.
A Shenzhen propaganda official said Xi, who will succeed Hu Jintao as president in March, would follow in the footsteps of Deng's tour to "express his determination to further deepen China's reform".
Xi is due to visit the Yunong fishing village in Luohu, the Qianhai experimental zone and export factories in Shekou today, before heading to Zhuhai and Guangzhou.
Guangdong and Shenzhen party bosses, busy preparing for Xi's visit, cancelled a scheduled interview with a group of Hong Kong reporters yesterday.
Former National People's Congress deputy Ng Hong-man said Xi chose Shenzhen for his first tour to pay tribute to Deng and his reformist father Xi Zhongxun's commitment to reform and opening up.
Deng gave Xi's father the task of setting up experimental zones for economic reforms in 1979.