Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said Xia owed much of his political fortune over the years to his close links to Xi.

Xi’s ties with Xia – who rose from semi-retirement to take up a leadership role at the country’s top political advisory body two years ago, making him a state leader – date back nearly two decades when the pair worked closely in Zhejiang.

“While Xia is considered a capable cadre within the party, there’s no point in denying that Xi’s trust and blessing is essential for his new job when so much is at stake at the moment with regard to the situation in Hong Kong,” Gu said.

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Xia was born in Tianjin and was a primary school and high schoolteacher during the Cultural Revolution. He rose through the ranks in the municipality next to Beijing to become then the city’s vice-mayor in 1997.

During his tenure in Tianjin, Xia, who had a degree in Chinese from a local adult education school, studied and earned a doctorate in economics at Peking University, according to Xinhua.

When he was appointed Zhejiang’s deputy party chief in November 2003, he may have little idea that his immediate boss and then provincial party chief Xi would later rise to become the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

But nearly 14 years later when he left Zhejiang as the province’s top party cadre in 2017, Xia did not hold back in expressing gratitude for the opportunity to work with Xi for nearly four years before Xi was appointed party chief of Shanghai in 2007.

“I am fortunate to become a member of the ‘Iron Army’ in Zhejiang,” he said in his official farewell speech, using a term he coined to refer to officials who worked with Xi during his rise mostly in Zhejiang but also in Shanghai, Shaanxi and Fujian.

“It is the greatest fortune of my life to be transferred to Zhejiang and have a prominent platform to fulfil my personal ambitions and serve the party and the state,” Xia said in the speech in April 2017.

“Each and every step of progress we’ve achieved in Zhejiang should be attributed to General Secretary [Xi’s] guidance and care. To speak from my heart, it is the greatest fortune of the nation, the party and the people to have Xi Jinping as the core of the party central.”

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The officials around Xi are better known as the “New Zhejiang Army”, and comprise more than a dozen of Xi’s top proteges and allies, including Xia, and Cai Qi, Li Qiang and Chen Miner – the party chiefs of Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing. Former Shanghai mayor Ying Yong, who was named Hubei’s new party boss on Wednesday, is also seen as a member of Xi’s Zhejiang clique.

During Xia’s 14 years in Zhejiang, the eastern province rose to become one of the most affluent areas in the country, with its total economic output increasing five-fold to reach nearly 4.65 trillion yuan (US$654 billion) by the end of 2016.

Xia, whose stint as Zhejiang’s party boss came after Xi became the country’s supreme leader, has also been an advocate of Xi’s policies and achievements.

One of the highlights of Xia’s tenure in Zhejiang was the 2016 Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, the province’s capital city, which Xia helped prepare.

According to Chinese media, Xia said Xi was highly satisfied with the extravagant gathering of world leaders, which took millions of US dollars and months to prepare. Xi also reportedly praised Zhejiang and Hangzhou authorities for their “strict security measures” and “reliable logistics support”.

But the weeks of exceptionally tight security measures Xia’s government imposed for the gathering, also met with widespread discontent and criticism.

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An online critique by Guo Enping, a public servant in Taizhou, titled “Hangzhou, Shame on You” went viral on the internet and incensed Xia and local authorities.

Guo was fired and detained for 10 days for “causing disturbances by fabricating rumours” that claimed the government had spent 160 billion yuan ahead of the summit to turn the city into one “which is simply superficially decorated”.

While Xia was known for his bold, hardworking style, his stint in Zhejiang was largely marred by a campaign against religious freedom he personally led in 2015, which saw the toppling of more than 1,000 crosses from church roofs and the destruction of entire church buildings across the province.

The crackdown was reportedly prompted by a visit Xi made to Wenzhou in late 2013 when he questioned the prominence of the city’s church buildings.

Analysts said that Xia’s hardened stance, in the name of clearing illegal structures, was probably due to the backing of the top leadership in Beijing under Xi, who has been hostile towards religious freedom – something the party sees as a threat to its authoritarian rule.

They said Xia appeared to have shared a similar hardline approach with Xi and many other members of his Zhejiang group on how to maintain stability when it comes to handling civil society and dissidents.

Wen Kejian, an independent political analyst based in Hangzhou, said many in Zhejiang, including government officials, were not happy with Xia, who was headstrong and uncompromising when dealing with dissent and Christian churches. “A lot of people celebrated when he left Zhejiang three years ago,” he said.

Gu and other analysts noted that Xia might face an immediate test as many in Hong Kong would view him suspiciously and even negatively over his controversial role in church demolitions across Zhejiang.

“But his rich experience in coastal regions and his personal ties with Xi in particular may give him better access to the top leadership, which matters more for party officials,” Gu said.

Gu said Xia’s incumbent position as vice-chairman and secretary general of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, would also be useful because the advisory body was the party’s main arm in its united front work, aimed at rallying support from outside the party and around the world.

But Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said Xia’s appointment might be bad news for Hong Kong.

“Given his background as an enforcer for Xi and the lack of experience or network in Hong Kong, he is clearly chosen to enforce Xi’s hardline policy on the city,” he said.

He said Xia’s new role at the Hong Kong body, coinciding with the reshuffle of Hubei government over the ongoing coronavirus crisis, may not be a coincidence.

“As to the timing, we need to bear in mind that the HKMAO appointment would have been in the pipeline, but there is no particular time pressure for the announcement to be made now. It was announced with the leadership change in Hubei to show Xi’s strength,” he said.

Additional reporting by Echo Xie and Guo Rui

Illustration: Henry Wong