OpinionA glimpse of Xi Jinping's charm up close
Xi Jinping made a point of getting close to the people on his recent visit to Shenzhen. And you can't get much closer than shaking his hand
"Will you ever wash your hand again?" friends in the media have been asking me since an unexpectedly close encounter a week ago with new Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping.
More than a dozen Shenzhen residents shook hands with the president-in-waiting at the city's Lotus Hill Park during his five-day inspection trip to the Pearl River Delta. I was one of them.
During the tour, Xi cultivated an image of a man of the people, with low-key security arrangements, folksy smiles and flashes of charm. Many delta residents - party officials, white-collar workers and even taxi drivers - are still talking excitedly about his "southern tour" from December 7 to Tuesday.
Political observers said the visit was a tribute to Deng Xiaoping's famous southern tour in 1992 and intended to send a signal of commitment to deepening reform. It also paid tribute to his reformist father Xi Zhongxun's commitment to opening up. Deng gave Xi's father the task of setting up experimental zones for economic reforms in 1979.
The five-day visit was a tightly scheduled affair. Xi visited several places in five delta cities - Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan Huizhou and Guangzhou - home to landmarks to the spirit and achievements of reform. In Shenzhen they included the Qianhai experimental zone, information technology giant Tencent, and Yumin village and Lotus Hill, symbols of the success of Deng's open-door policy.
Xi's common touch was best illustrated on a walkabout at Lotus Hill. Residents were free to hike in the area before 9.30am. Police were dressed in casual sports outfits and some were even accompanied by family members.
Hong Kong reporters and press photographers were allowed to interview and take pictures of those present until 8am, when they were politely but firmly ushered away.