The People's Daily and authoritative Xinhua news agency front-paged reports (December 26) that the Politburo held a 'Democratic Life' meeting (December 24-25) on the occasion of Mao Zedong's birth anniversary on December 26. The People's Daily published an over 3000-word report on the meeting. The meeting, the reports said, emphasized that Xi Jinping’s thinking on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era has a practical, contemporary, and creative character. It is a theoretical crystallization from all the practices of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era and promotes the continuous development of the party and state in the new era. Scientific guide. Xi Jinping pointed out that when we talk about politics, we must improve our political understanding. Leading cadres, especially senior leading cadres, bear political responsibilities. They must thoroughly study and understand the spirit of the Party Central Committee, adhere to the spirit of the Party Central Committee to analyze the situation and promote work, and always maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee. Xinhua, in its 737-word report said in his "important speech", Xi Jinping had, inter alia, stressed that "Leading cadres, especially senior leading cadres, are responsible for political responsibility. They must thoroughly study and understand the spirit of the Party Central Committee, persist in using the Party Central Committee’s spirit to analyze the situation and promote work, and always maintain a high degree of consistency with the Party Central Committee". "They should continue to improve their political comprehension, be aware of the "big ones" and clarify their responsibilities". Xi Jinping additionally  emphasised that "Leading cadres, especially high-level cadres, should always check the benchmarks with the spirit of the Party Central Committee, and earnestly achieve the resolute response advocated by the Party Central Committee, resolute implementation of the Party Central Committee’s decisions, resolutely refrain from doing what the Party Central Committee prohibits, and resolutely safeguard the authority and centralization of the Party Central Committee. Leaders, do not fall behind, do not go astray, and fully grasp the spirit of the Party Central Committee. We must stick to bottom-line thinking and problem-oriented work throughout the work ..". It also ended with the remark: 'Noting that local Party committees will start to elect their new leaderships next year, Xi urged leading officials, especially senior ones, to take the lead in observing relevant election disciplines'. 

(Comment: The Xinhua report's concluding remark was ambiguous, in that it made no mention of high level appointments to the leadership.)