In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, a peasant pauses from working near cave dwellings that characterize the region where Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping used to live during his youth when he was sent to learn peasant virtues at Liangjiahe village in northwestern China's Shaanxi province. Xi, 59 and the country's vice president is expected to take over as head of the ruling party in November, 2012, before becoming president in 2013 of an increasingly assertive China. The Liangjiahe years are among scant details known about Xi's life and personality partly because he himself chronicled them as a key formative experience. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
China leader's persona forged by harsh early life
In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, a peasant pauses from working near cave dwellings that characterize the region where Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping used to live during his youth when he was sent to learn peasant virtues at Liangjiahe village in northwestern China's Shaanxi province. Xi, 59 and the country's vice president is expected to take over as head of the ruling party in November, 2012, before becoming president in 2013 of an increasingly assertive China. The Liangjiahe years are among scant details known about Xi's life and personality partly because he himself chronicled them as a key formative experience. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press /
October 23, 2012
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Xi, who likes the Hollywood film ‘‘Saving Private Ryan,’’ showed a human side during his official visit to the U.S. earlier this year. He took in a Los Angeles Lakers game and stopped in Iowa to visit families who hosted him during a study tour there in 1985. Asked by California schoolchildren about his hobbies, Xi listed reading, swimming, and watching sports, but said to laughter that finding more personal time was ‘‘mission impossible.’’
Former U.S. ambassador to Beijing Jon Huntsman said Xi is a man ‘‘who is quite different from Hu Jintao’’ in that Xi appears at ease.
‘‘He’s someone who you can connect with,’’ Huntsman said.
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