Almost six months after being re-elected president of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping is restructuring his power around new groups of loyal supporters. 

With the old factions of influence having seen their importance, power and reach decline - particularly the Communist Youth League of China (CYLC, IO, 21/03/23) and Jiang Zemin's clique (IO, 11/04/22) - Xi Jinping is elevating new factions that, while larger than before, remain modest in size.

The result is a new architecture of governance made up of "mini-cliques", none of which will ever have the weight or organisational capacity to encroach on Xi's power. Each of those budding factions must now develop a supporter base both within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and throughout society, in order to grow support for Xi. They will also be tasked with cultivating and training the future leaders of the post-Xi era.