Since assuming power three years ago, Chinese president Xi Jinping has done nothing to discourage the spread of a popular nickname — “Xi Da Da” or “Big Xi”. In addition to literally being a bigger, taller man than his predecessors and peers, the moniker enhances his aura as a strong leader.

Even Barack Obama seemed to endorse this view during a December address to business leaders. The US president noted that since becoming head of the Chinese Communist party in November 2012, Mr Xi “has consolidated power faster and probably more comprehensively than anyone since Deng Xiaoping”.

While Mr Obama was in fact citing Mr Xi’s rise as part and parcel of a more assertive nationalism that worries China’s neighbours, to Beijing officials it was more validation of the Communist party and Chinese government’s ability to act, from speed-building infrastructure to projecting military power across the Asia Pacific region.