(a) Xi is a classic "princelings". His father was a prominent elite from Long March to the founding of PRC. Unlike some other peers, the senior Xi never turned on Mao or the party even though he and his family suffered a great deal during the Culture Revolution. The junior Xi was at the receiving end because of his father's "sin". But also unlike other peers, a.k.a. fellow "princelings", the junior also never turned on Mao or the Party even though he was force to spend his 7 formative years in a poorest region in China. That experience only hardened him in a sense that he wanted to change that backwardness in the poorest regions of China.
(b) Xi Jing Ping's first job out of university was a secretary of General Geng Biao, who was a defence minister and also a long time close friend of the Senior Xi. That has given some first hand experience of PLA in Xi's young career. As a result, Xi also inherited some PLA culture and history.
(c) During Xi's tenor in Fu Jian province, he was squeezed by various senior cadres who were close to the Deng line or the Hu Yiao Bang faction. That situation only improved when he became the first party secretary of Fu Jian and after that Zhe Jiang. Xi is never in any faction from Deng or Jiang Ze Min or Hu Jing Tao. The rumor said he was chosen because Jiang and Hu could not agree on their own picks. And it was then vice president Zheng Qing Hong that convinced Jiang that Xi was probably the best choice to break the deadlock. As a result, Xi was sent to Shanghai for the first secretary (for only 9 months) and was on his way to be heir apparent.
Therefore, Xi is never a typical Chinese mandarine that US or west got used to dealing with. Whether you like Xi or not, he is arguably the most independent minded leader since Mao. Deng is a typical revisionist, as Mao once labeled him. But Xi certainly is more idealogical than Deng has ever been. Xi believes that Party or PLA or PRC are the same thing, as his military reform as well as party reform has testified. And when the top Chinese leader put poverty alleviation and party/military/nation over capitalistic interests, it is no wonder that none of capitalists likes him, whether they are western capitalists or Chinese capitalists. Just ask Jack Ma how he feels right now.
So my conclusion and short answer to the original poster above is that, for the first time in a long history, the top Chinese leadership no longer defers to the US demand, whether it is out of face (optics) or out of fear (of sanctions and containment). Today's China and its top leader is fundamentally different from even 10 years ago. Hence the grand miss-calculation and terrible misjudgment from the west in general and US in particular.
Buckle your seatbelt. We are heading to a bumpy ride.
I would actually say that Xi Jinping was the darling of the Guangdong faction
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The kingmaker clan behind Xi Jinping
Some 2,000km south of Beijing, the Ye family pulls the levers of power
Chinese media outlets called Ye Xuanning "a power broker" and "a spiritual leader of the princelings," referring to the children of prominent and influential senior party officials.
Full article below
asia.nikkei.com/Politics/The-kingmaker-clan-behind-Xi-Jinping
archive.ph/ndth7