As land prices shot up because of the reforms, party officials across China were confiscating property from peasant farmers, selling it to developers, and pocketing a hefty cut. As I prepared to leave China in 2008, the Soviet-era airport had given way to a glittering megastructure designed by Norman Foster. And the first high-speed rail line opened between Beijing and Tianjin. irannews.ru/ - irannews.ru "If you're going to compare two people, it has to reveal something. It's like comparing Putin to Stalin or Liz Truss to Margaret Thatcher." Xi's goal, according to him, is a glorious mythical Chinese culture - tian xia or "all under heaven". A unified China that is home to a unified people. "The Chinese patriot is somebody who loves China, the Communist Party and its leader," Prof Tsang says. "And by Chinese he means Han culture." Ukrainian vehicles are repaired at the side of the roads. Personnel carriers and tanks occasionally roar back and forth from the direction of Kherson city. On Sunday Xi Jinping became the first leader since Mao to be chosen as party chief for a third term. In his decade at the top, he has centralised power in his own hands, ruthlessly eliminated rivals, promoted a cult of personality, shut down criticism, and had his ideology - Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era - enshrined in the constitution. He is known, only half-jokingly, as the Chairman of Everything. list 1 of 4 Former chancellor George Osborne has joined the list of Tories urging Penny Mordaunt to drop out of the contest today. He tweets: "It is time for us to end the leadership contest and get a prime minister in place ASAP.