BEIJING—Every summer, top current and former officials of the Chinese Communist Party gather at the Beidaihe resort in Hebei province for rest and relaxation—and for informal discussions about party matters.

But last summer, Chinese President Xi Jinping did not go to Beidaihe, according to several Communist Party sources. In fact, there was a 17-day period from late July when his whereabouts were not publicized.

One party source who serves as an aide to Xi said, “He remained in Beijing to work on two draft documents.”

One of those documents was the “historical resolution” released in November. It was only the third one issued by a Chinese leader, after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

While the document was intended to cement Xi’s hold on power, he was well aware that the wording had to be very carefully woven to avoid raising concerns that he would serve as president for life or that it was meant to idolize him personally as a charismatic leader.

The other document was a speech Xi gave on Aug. 17 at the party Central Committee’s Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission.

In that speech, Xi declared that China and the Communist Party had entered a new era of moving toward achieving “common prosperity.”

The concept is a socialist utopia in which everyone prospers as disparity is overcome.

Xi is not the first Chinese leader to declare such a goal.

Mao did so in 1953, with disastrous consequences because the nation at that time was not ready to achieve the noble ideals espoused. Pursuit of that goal led to the Great Leap Forward, which was subsequently blamed for keeping China mired in economic backwardness for decades.

Deng tried to overcome that error by calling for economic reform and an open-door policy while allowing a certain level of economic inequality.

While China’s economy has now reached about 70 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States, economic disparity has also approached levels found in the United States.

According to the World Inequality Lab, operated by French economist Thomas Piketty and others, the wealthiest 10 percent in China owns 68 percent of the nation’s assets. That level already exceeds those in Japan and European nations.

Xi’s vision of common prosperity called for gradually reducing the wealth gap by around mid-century, when the Communist Party will celebrate its centennial.

He also called for taking into consideration existing economic disparities as well as regional differences while moving forward cautiously to achieve common prosperity.

RIVAL CALLED FOR COMMON PROSPERITY

Bo Xilai at one time was considered a potential rival of Xi for top party leadership posts. Bo had also called for doing away with economic disparity when he was head of the Chongqing municipal Communist Party committee.

Among the measures he proposed was to reform the family register system to make it easier for rural peasants to move to the cities as well as to construct public housing for those in lower income brackets.

But Bo fell from power in 2012 and was sentenced to life in prison on corruption and abuse of power charges in the following year.

Despite that downfall, Chongqing residents still hold Bo in high acclaim because of their belief that he was on their side.

But it is now impossible to find any information about Bo’s achievements in that municipal party post.

A visit to a Chongqing library in search of past newspaper clippings led to the response, “That is all off-limits.”

“The only person who can be allowed to achieve common prosperity is Xi,” a party source said.

DISTURBING MEMORIES OF CULTURAL REVOLUTION

As part of the drive to achieve common prosperity, Chinese authorities have gone after entertainers and other celebrities with huge incomes. They are also trying to rein in those with large real estate holdings as well as internet giants, such as Alibaba and Tencent.

While the goal of common prosperity has gained the support of many ordinary Chinese, others also remember past efforts to target the wealthy and powerful.

It was Bo who branded company entrepreneurs as “the mafia” when he was trying to eliminate economic disparity in Chongqing.

Local residents cheered as Bo had about 50,000 people detained and seized assets totaling 100 billion yuan (about 1.8 trillion yen or $15.7 billion).

But human rights lawyers filed complaints about false arrests. Some said Bo’s efforts were a repeat of the Cultural Revolution in which the offspring of the wealthy were often humiliated by being paraded in front of large crowds in public and labeled the enemy of the working class.

The Xi administration has tried to placate concerns about a return of such targeting of the wealthy. And because Xi is the president, no open opposition has arisen about his pursuit of common prosperity.

One lawyer who uncovered abuses by Bo said a similar trend of going after the “mafia” appeared to be surfacing again. But the lawyer refused to go into details.

BASIS FOR LONG CONTROL OF POWER

Although Xi has emerged on top in China, he frequently talks about his “red DNA,” the ideal and tradition of the Communist Party that has been supported by poor peasants.

His words and deeds reflect a strong desire to show integrity, stand by the common man and not bow to foreign pressure.

In his August speech, Xi said, “We must place emphasis on common prosperity to solidify the foundation of long-term control of government by the party.”

Behind those words is the belief that common prosperity will be the key in maintaining the support of the people for the Communist Party as China deals with the many difficult issues, such as the confrontation with the West, slackening economic growth, a declining birth rate and graying population.

(This article was written by Takashi Funakoshi and Nozomu Hayashi.)