Rule by law, with Chinese characteristics

With every year, the word of China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, is treated more like law. His favourite slogans are printed on red banners and posted on urban streets and highway bridges. Roadside images of his face remain rare, at least outside restive regions like Tibet or Xinjiang. But his name is everywhere, used on billboards extolling his philosophy or instructing citizens to uphold his leadership. His sayings are taught in school textbooks. They are turned into marching lines of metal characters that are erected in fields.