As a spiritual support, Xi has also given up some rigid parts of ideology, and stressed the importance of traditional culture instead, which is a more appealing flag in promoting national unity. Promoting traditional culture also curbs the once popular West-centeredness.

Another key to his successfully controlling the situation is to fully exploit the political resources of the CPC - the convenience with which it can mobilize social forces, even memories of its historical virtues, which appeal to the public. In his speeches reported by the media, Xi often resorts to the cultural elements that the Party relied on when it was still a revolutionary party, trying to overthrow what it considered as unjust order. This helps regain some of the Party's lost trust from the people, who are beginning to have more confidence in the Party's ability to reform itself.

By doing so, Xi has obtained an authority that is increasingly comparable to that of Deng Xiaoping. Some intellectuals advocating US-style constitutionalism consider it negative, but only a leadership with ample authority can unite enough social forces to form a consensus to support constitutional and democratic reform. Similar approaches could be reflected from Japan's reform after the Meiji Revolution and China's own dramatic changes in the 1980s.

A contrary example is Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), which launched constitutional reform in its last 10 years, but failed because the dynasty, in a deep legitimacy crisis, could no longer rally national support for its moves. The failure brought the dynasty to collapse. As a vast country, China easily faces lack of authority in any attempt to make changes, which was typical in the decades following 1911. Now Xi's team is establishing the necessary authority to propel reform and the opportunity should be cherished.

It is noticeable that the current centralization of authority is being accompanied by the enlargement of democracy and the promotion of human rights. Authority needs to, and will, coexist with diversified thinking in society, so as to propel healthy changes without getting out of control. That's the only way of transforming the Chinese society into one with both prosperity and a mature democracy.

The author is a professor of history at Shanghai Normal University.