Xi Jinping's New Year's Greeting; Rural Revitalization; Mao Zhenhua's Tirade Against Heilongjiang Corruption; Censors Bring News App Toutiao To Heel

Happy 2018!

Sinocism is back to a normal schedule. I imagine many of you have full inboxes after the holiday so if you missed my year-ender here is a link to it again--Seven China Themes For 2018. 

Thanks for reading. 

The Essential Eight

1. Xi Jinping's New Year's Greeting

President Xi delivers New Year speech vowing resolute reform in 2018 - Xinhua:

Xi said the year 2018 marked the first year of fully implementing "the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC)," which outlines China's desired development blueprint over the next three decades.

"Building a high-rise begins with mounds of soil," Xi said, borrowing an ancient Chinese phrase to urge his fellow Chinese to take a step-by-step approach and work hard to turn the blueprint into a reality.

Xi said that by 2020 all rural residents living below the current poverty line should have been lifted out of poverty. It will be the first time in China's thousands of years of history that extreme poverty is elimin…