Xi tightens grip on China as name added to Communist constitution
A child takes a photo of a man posing with a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping at an exhibition highlighting the country's achievements under five years of his leadership at the Beijing Exhibition Hall in the capital Monday. | AP
Beijing, China .Chinese leader Xi Jinping's name was added to the Communist Party's constitution at a defining congress on Tuesday, elevating him alongside Chairman Mao to the pantheon of the country's founding giants.
The inclusion of Xi's name along with his guiding philosophy for the nation cements his place as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades and suggests he could remain its paramount leader throughout his lifetime.
Communist China's founder Mao Zedong, and the architect of market reforms, Deng Xiaoping, are the only other Chinese leaders to have their names in the document -- and only Mao was alive when his was included.
Xi, 64, presided over the week-long congress's closing session where some 2,300 delegates approved the constitutional amendment to include "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era".
