Well, ironically Xi is behaving exactly like Bo in Chongqing; a populist strongmen taking advantage of the wealth gap and its relevant social discontent to overturn existing power structure and use the mobilized majority to solidify the new strongman's position. Before Xi came to power, Jiang and his Three Represents ideology ruled the day, meaning wealthy businesses and their families (as well as cronies of corrupt officials) move their illicit wealth abroad and invest in Wall Street. In other words, the CCP itself became a parasite on its own people, as the Party elites became predatory and used the labour of the Chinese people to enrich themselves. When they gained enough wealth, they moved abroad, become Americans, and joined the Republican establishment in the US (think about why so many wealthy Chinese immigrants in the US support the GOP). Therefore, these corrupt elites could stand on two boats simultaneously 一脚踏两条船, meaning if the Party State could continue to enrich them, they would stay in China (but their families in the US), but if they face anti-corruption charges or other forms of political struggle, they immediate become the loudest anti-CCP voice in the US. The most prominent example being Ling Jihua's family, especially his brother Ling Wancheng, who even stole the Second Artillery's launch code and handed it to the Americans.
It was under such kleptocratic background (1992-2013) that Bo emerged as a populist leader calling for change. Unfortunately, this guy was too arrogant and outspoken, so Wen Jiaobao had him sacked. In fact, as you guys probably know, Wen's wife is also one of the most corrupt crony still not arrested (Xi cannot touch Wen's family because Wen is Xi's political ally during the struggle against Bo and Zhou). However, Xi realized that in order to solidify his own power base, he has to adopt Bo's populist position and overturn Jiang's power structure based on kleptocracy. It is also why you always hear rich Chinese who amassed wealth under Jiang and Hu-Wen years hate Xi so much. Xi is trying to reshuffle Jiang's political economy, while make China less dependent on the West. That is why everyone beside the majority of Chinese (mainly the poor and the lower middle class) hate Xi. As much as I think Xi is the best of the bad apples, a bad apple is still a bad apple, and I hope could alleviate corruption without killing entrepreneurship. Everything so far points to the fact that he is not against small to medium size private companies, but he surely points a gun to the heads of big CEOs to force them to pay for China's overall welfare.
Conclusion: don't think of things as back or white. Xi is a bad apple (and I dare to say that he could sometimes be a real a-hole when he limits freedom of speech), but what choice does the PRC really have? Another neoliberal who would return China to the days of the Warring States Period? Think about Putin for Russia.
