2020/12/28 20:28 China s upheavals consolidate Xi s power. (Taiwan News image) China s upheavals consolidate Xi s power. (Taiwan News image) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) As 2020 dealt a blow to the world with a pandemic, social unrest, and natural disasters, China, the first to be upended by the coronavirus, has rebounded and is trading jabs with the free world. Amid the turbulence, Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) has managed to continue extending his power and successfully leverage propaganda to silence opposing voices. The emergence of the coronavirus has posed an unprecedented challenge to China s propaganda machine. In January, after Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang (李文亮) was reprimanded by police for sharing information about a SARS-like virus that caused severe pneumonia, local hospitals were crowded with those bearing symptoms.