China’s ruling party reasserts itself under Xi

Officials from the Communist Youth League of China felt they had to act: Busy with their education and careers, young Chinese were struggling in the romance department, with tens of millions unable to find partners.

So the organization best known for nurturing communist ideology among the young began organizing get-togethers for politically reliable singles, hoping to help them develop what one official called a “correct attitude” toward love and marriage.

“We just want to provide the best service to provide opportuni- ties for young people to meet,” said Wang Jun, director of the Department of Marriage, Love and Friend Making at the Youth League’s Zhejiang provincial branch. The department was set up in June as part of sweeping reforms aimed at making the league more relevant.

The new matchmaking mission is just one example of how the ruling Communist Party is reasserting itself under President Xi Jinping.

Its resurgence comes after years of seeing its influence over citizens’ daily affairs wane, even while it maintained an iron grip on the political system and military.

The revitalization has been accompanied by stepped-up demands for ideological purity and the encouragement of an exuberant nationalism that links China’s rise globally to the party’s continued rule under Xi, its most powerful leaders in decades.

“Under Xi, the party has been re-emphasized as the main tool to control and get in touch with different parts of society,” said Jerome Doyon, assistant policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris.

Those efforts are expected to get a boost when the party meets this week for its national congress, at which Xi will receive a second five-year term as party leader.

The congress will produce new members for the Politburo Standing Committee.