Xi’s staying close to home

A short note today just to point out that so far this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping (习近平) has stayed very close to home. His only official trip out of the capital was a day trip to Xiong’an (雄安) on March 23^rd, some 46 minutes by train.^[1]

By the end of April, Xi has usually done at least two trips into the country. Before the Spring Festival there’s usually a pre-holiday visit to a poor province: Gansu (2013), Inner Mongolia (2014), Yunnan (2015, 2020), Jiangxi (2016), Hebei (2017), Sichuan (2018), Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (2019), Beijing/Guizhou (2021), Beijing/Shanxi (2022), Tianjin (2024), Liaoning (2025).

But this year, Xi stayed in the capital and during Feb 9-10^th, visited a IT Innovation center, an old people’s home, etc.^[2]

And then during March-April, Xi usually takes advantage of the spring sunshine to schlep out to at least one, perhaps two, provinces, including pop-ins to see the troops (as I wrote about here). Last year it was Guizhou and Yunnan, in 2024 Hunan and Chongqing were blessed, etc.^[3]

But so far this year, it’s just been that Xiong-an trip. Something seems to be keeping him chained to his desk. Whatever could it be?

One can only guess he’s occupied with finding some trustworthy PLA generals. I wonder how long that will take…

^[1] ‘习近平在河北雄安新区考察并主持召开深入推进雄安新区高质量建设和发展座谈会时强调 牢牢把握雄安新区功能定位 努力建设新时代创新高地和推动高质量发展样板 [During His Inspection Tour of Xiong’an New Area in Hebei Province and While Chairing a Symposium on Further Promoting the High-Quality Construction and Development of Xiong’an New Area, Xi Jinping Emphasized the Need to Firmly Grasp the Functional Positioning of Xiong’an New Area and Strive to Build It into a New Era Innovation Hub and a Model for Promoting High-Quality Development]’, People’s Daily Web [人民网], 24 March 2026, https://jhsjk.people.cn/article/40687489.

^[2] ‘向全国各族人民致以美好的新春祝福 祝各族人民幸福安康 祝伟大祖国繁荣昌盛 [I Extend My Best Wishes for the Spring Festival to All the People of All Ethnic Groups across the Country. May All the People of All Ethnic Groups Be Happy and Healthy, and May Our Great Motherland Prosper and Flourish]’, 11 February 2026, https://archive.ph/bIWHl, https://jhsjk.people.cn/article/40663644.

^[3] Admittedly, 2023 was also a bit quiet: Xi visited with the PLA in Beijing before the Spring Festival and only made it out to Guangdong in April. However, it was COVID, and to keep everyone safe and happy he did a video conference on January 18^th with people at six locations around the country.