When Xi Jinping was catapulted to the top of the Communist party hierarchy in 2007 the only thing most people in China knew about him was that he was married to a hugely popular military folk singer called Peng Liyuan.
当习近平2007年一跃登上中共权力体系巅峰时，中国大部分人对他的唯一了解就是：这个人是著名军中民歌演唱家彭丽媛的丈夫。
So the party's propaganda machine turned to Ms Peng, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, to introduce the man selected by a conclave of political power brokers to be the next leader of the world's most populous nation.
于是，中共的宣传机器转向了彭丽媛，借宣传这位中国人民解放军少将歌唱家来介绍习近平——他由中共高层少数人秘密挑选出来，作为世界第一人口大国的下一代领导人。
"The first time I met him my heart pounded and I felt immediately that this was my ideal husband, he was so pure and thoughtful," she said in an interview with Chinese state media. Ms Peng also described him as humble and dedicated to his work as a party official.
彭丽媛在接受中国国家媒体采访时如此回忆与习近平的第一次见面：“当时我心里一动——这不就是我心目中理想的丈夫吗？人纯朴又很有思想。”彭丽媛还说，习近平为人谦和，是个工作勤恳的党干部。
Like most of China's top political leaders Mr Xi is an enigmatic figure whose manicured official biography and public pronouncements offer few hints of what his policies might be when he ascends the communist throne.
如中国大多数最高领导人一样，习近平是个神秘的人物。从他经过修饰的官方简历和公开发表的演说中，我们很难找到多少线索，来推断他在登上中共权力宝座以后会采取怎样的政策。
In China and overseas, people have been projecting their own biases and preferences on to the man who will almost certainly succeed president Hu Jintao as Communist party general secretary at the end of this year and president and head of the military soon after.
在中国和海外，人们一直将自己的偏好套用到习近平身上。习近平几乎肯定会在今年年底接替胡锦涛担任中共中央总书记，并随后出任中国国家主席和中共中央军事委员会主席。
Some say he is a strong nationalist leader who could try to confront the west, others argue he is pro-western but isolated and some hopeful liberals even quietly speculate that he could be a Chinese Gorbachev, itching to introduce democracy the first chance he gets.
有人说，习近平是一名强硬的民族主义领导人，可能试图与西方对抗；也有人称，习近平是亲西方的，但孤立无援；一些乐观的自由主义者甚至默默猜测，习近平可能就是中国的戈尔巴乔夫，渴望一有机会就推行民主。
His visit to the US this week, where he was received as if he was already head of state, has done little to illuminate his political leanings although it has thrust him into the global spotlight, where he appeared confident if somewhat colourless.
习近平本周访问美国，受到的接待规格之高，仿佛他已经是中国最高领导人了。此行让习近平成为了全球的焦点，但未能提供多少线索，让世人了解他的政治倾向。面对全球媒体的关注，习近平的表现，除了多少有些缺乏特色之外，总的来说，颇为自信。
But contrary to appearances and his airbrushed official bio, Mr Xi's path to the pinnacle of Communist power has been anything but boring.
但与其外在表现以及经过粉饰的官方简历不同，习近平登上中共权力巅峰的道路绝非平淡无奇。
Born the "princeling" son of a revolutionary general in 1953, he was surrounded by privilege from a young age, living in a compound for top Chinese leaders with the kind of comforts – servants, telephones and a steady food supply – that most citizens in the impoverished nation couldn't dream of.
1953年，习近平出生于一个革命将领家庭，“太子党”的出身让他自幼享受许多特权。在高级领导人专属的干部大院里长大，有勤务兵、电话和稳定的食品供应——这些在当时一贫如洗的中国是大多数人所无法想象的。
But all of that was snatched away when his father, Xi Zhongxun, who was by now a vice-premier, was detained in 1962 in one of Mao Zedong's vicious purges. Gone were the trappings of the elite and the status of the young Xi, who for the next 15 years would be branded the son of a counter-revolutionary.
但在1962年，这一切都没有了。那一年，习近平之父、时任副总理的习仲勋在毛泽东的一次残酷清洗中被打倒。年少的习近平一下子失去了高干子弟的待遇和地位，在之后的15年里，他的身份都是反革命分子的儿子。
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