With the leadership in line and immense powers at his disposal, Xi is now in a position, as McGregor put it, to “use Mao Zedong’s tools to get Deng aims.”
With the Bo Xilai scandal, Xi’s CCP has also sent a powerful signal to other would-be challengers that defiance will not be countenanced and will be dealt with very swiftly, as Bo quickly learned. Unlike his predecessor Hu Jintao, a somewhat out-of-date leader who never succeeded in getting the upper hand on the powerful Central Standing Committee, Xi has quickly seized control over the reform plan as well as the security apparatus, which the just-concluded Third Plenum made all the more evident, McGregor said. Speaking in Taipei on December 26, long-time China watcher James McGregor argued that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Secretary-General and President Xi Jinping is now the most powerful man in China since Deng Xiaoping. Combine that with the emergence of what is probably the most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping and a party apparatus that feels it can finally get things done, and China could be forgiven for regarding itself as the new “shining city upon a hill.” That new sense of superiority has already manifested itself in the form of risky behavior in the East and South China Sea, and could have a substantial impact on Beijing’s “reunification” strategy for Taiwan. Web.After decades of living in the shadow of superpowers, the Chinese leadership today seems to believe it has developed a political system that is superior to any other on the planet. "St John the Baptist, Holland Road" (Church website). "List Entry" (for St John the Baptist, Holland Road).
In the middle stands Mary with eyes modestly lowered in the presence of Saint Gabriel, as in the Annunciation. The figures on the south side, following on from the Wise Virgins and matching Synagoga and St George opposite, are Ecclesia (representing the New Law, and holding a chalice) and Joseph in his role as earthly parent - he is shown tenderly holding the baby Jesus, in a particularly warm-hearted representation of him. The figures here were by Taylerson as well, since he was a skilled carver not only in marble but also in wood (and ivory too). (c) St George.Īdkins marked the Baptistery off from the nave by a fine wooden screen. Had there really been a large double doorway here, the figure of Christ as Bridegroom would probably have presided as a figure between or above the two sides of the opening. The less fortunate virgins, the ones who have not brought oil for their lamps and will be turned away by the Bridegroom, are shown in various nicely differentiated attitudes of distress. Ĭloser view of the Foolish Virgins, followed by the wooden carvings of Synagoga (representing the Old Law, and looking equally downcast) and a triumphant St George, where the baptistery screen begins. The church's own website dates the figures to 1911. was contracted for the building, and Taylerson was commissioned for the carving (listing text). The sculptures belong to the period 1909-11, when the firm of E.
So the Wise and Foolish Virgins are ranged on either side, the wise about to be admitted, the foolish to be turned away. Nevertheless, he still had the sculptural work for the entrance carried out "according to Brooks's intentions" (Cherry and Pevsner 458). Adkins, decided to enclose all three porches, making the central one a baptistery. Brooks had designed a "cathedralesque entrance, French in manner" (Sheppard), with three porches, and had intended the central one to be the main entrance from the street. The architect of this Grade I listed church was James Brooks (1825-1901), but the west front had not been completed before his death. The north side of the West Portal, St John the Baptist Church, Holland Road, Kensington, London, showing the Foolish Virgins by J.E.
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