(Xi's U.S. Visit) Xinhua Insight: Xi -- A tough man with a tender heart

Guo Wei's lasting impression of Xi Jinping, Chinese President and Party and military leader, is of a man not afraid to get his feet -- or his whole body -- wet.

After an inspection tour of Dalian Ship-building Industry in the northeastern province of Liaoning in 2013, Xi stood in the pouring rain to talk with employees and posed for photographs with them, Guo, a Communist Party of China (CPC) affairs official of the company, recalled.

Since taking office, Xi, who is lauded for his easy-going personality by the public, has pushed ahead his counter-corruption drive, displaying the resolve to reform China's economic, political, cultural, social and environmental sectors.

After visiting a number of industries in Liaoning, Xi pledged to break systemic obstructions and revitalize old industrial bases in northeast China, an issue believed to reflect the complex and arduous reform task for the nation as a whole.

TOUGH WILL

Describing corruption as "a disease that calls for powerful drugs," Xi has urged all CPC members to fight corruption with courage of "a man who has to cut off his own snake-bitten hand to save his life."

Ensuing measures have displayed that Xi and his administration are serious about this commitment.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, a sweeping campaign against corruption and extravagance has netted dozens of senior officials, including former senior leaders such as Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua.

"In the past, a large slice of our efforts, and funds, were spent on cozying up to local officials," said Li Zhonggang, who runs a bidding agency in north China's Shanxi Province. "But now we can concentrate on business."

"The measures Xi and his administration have taken are an onslaught on the vices of officialdom to improve the environment," a former governmental official of the province said. "Changes in the environment will bring about changes in the mindset of officials, bolstering public confidence and the government's authority."

Xi heads the central leading group for deepening overall reform. The measures rolled out by the group, established in December 2013, have injected fresh energy into the economy and invigorated social development.

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE

While winning public confidence with his anticorruption drive, and reform and development measures, the president has also won the people's hearts with his down-to-earth nature.

Xi has shifted away from bureaucratic red tape and empty talk by using simple and colloquial language.

In his 2015 New Year speech, Xi used a popular online phrase to say that cadres had "given it their best shot", adding "of course, without the support of the people, we could not have achieved anything. I must give our great people a thumbs-up."

He has also visited many underdeveloped areas, taking the time to talk with locals and issue instructions on poverty relief and rural development.

"Our rural areas present the most arduous task to achieving an all-round well-off society," Xi said at a symposium in June, while calling for a more scientific approach to poverty relief.

"He looked quite ordinary, just like one of us," said You Futian, a farmer in Lankao County in central China's Henan Province.

During a visit to the county last year, Xi spoke with farmers, and You attended one of these meetings.

"He sat among us and talked with us in plain language. We all understood what he meant," You said. "I gave some advice to our village's administration, and he nodded at me, jotted down some notes and clapped after I had spoken."

"I was under the weather that day, and when he shook my hand, Xi told me to take care and stay fit," You recalled.

EVERYMAN'S PRESIDENT

A surprise visit by Xi to an ordinary steamed bun chain in Beijing, where he queued alongside other patrons and sat down among the diners to eat, has put the restaurant on the map, and sales have surged.

For many Chinese Internet users, the president is sometimes fondly referred as "Xi Dada" (Papa Xi) or "Pingping," a nickname often used by close friends or relatives.

The online community has also discussed the photos on display in the president's office, which show him with his father, mother, wife and daughter, and others with soldiers and him playing football.

"He is a family man, and he is everyman," said Zhang Qi, a student at Nanjing University. "He is also an outstanding helmsman to steer our country." Endi