Introduction: China’s Many Dreams

Since the change at the top level of the Chinese leadership in 2012–13 the idea of a China Dream (Zhongguo Meng) has been strongly promoted in the media, policy and academic commentaries, and in public areas across China in what has become a major ideological campaign.1 Understanding the China Dream, its components, motivations and consequences has particular importance, of course, because of the relationship between China change and international change —the Dream is not only about the change experienced by Chinese people but the world’s experience of a changing China.2 The China Dream idea is not entirely new but the way it has been defined and advanced by the new leadership, headed by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping, suggests it is more than the desire of an incoming administration to have a strong narrative for its period in office but also a new phase in China’s modernization and internationalization. Since Xi is seen as the principal architect of the official version of the Dream it is worth considering his understanding of the term. On 28 November 2012 Xi and the other members of the standing committee of the Politburo of the CCP visited the Road to Revival exhibition in Beijing.