Speculation over Xi Jinping's weibo account
Microblog with rare photos and details of party leader's itinerary attracts thousands of followers
A new microblog account dedicated to Xi Jinping is attracting thousands of influential followers amid speculation that it might be run by someone close to the country's top leader, if not the man himself.
Since its debut late last month, the Sina Weibo account "Fans Group to Learn From Xi" has demonstrated an unusual level of access to the recently installed Communist Party chief, posting family photos and sensitive details about his travels.
The account provided a key resource for reporters assigned to cover Xi's low-key sweep through Guangdong earlier this month and has since attracted numerous journalists, academics and government officials. The account now has more than 52,000 subscribers.
Perhaps the greatest indication that the account is being run by someone from the president-in-waiting's inner circle is that it has not been shut down by government censors. Social media sites dealing with top leaders are usually short-lived.
In it's first weeks, the site has posted dozens of rare photographs of Xi and his family. One shows Xi as a child with his parents in the 1950s.
Another shows him working as a "sent-down youth" during the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s. There is one of him as a low-ranking party cadre in the 1980s, one of him and his wife Peng Liyuan and another of him playing soccer.