Mr Xi has faced a tough challenge.The protests in the heart of the capital of Guangdong province began on January 7th, after allegations appeared on the internet that Guangdong's party censors had watered down a new-year message that was due to appear in Southern Weekend, a popular and outspoken newspaper that is based in Guangzhou but has a nationwide readership.
And last December, the province of Guangdong ordered its officials to steer clear of the fairways, too.
He is now probably in some well-off coastal province such as Guangdong or Fujian, the "son" maybe of prosperous farmers who had money but lacked an heir.
The phenomenon indicates a modern social illness, says Pan Zhibiao, who is vice-president of the Guangdong Provincial Society of Aesthetics, and thus, of course, an expert in such matters.
Guangdong academics have studied Chongqing's experiments in creating markets for rural land, where powerful restrictions apply even in "liberal" Guangdong.In the political realm, however, Mr Wang's supporters point to changes which, they say, are distinctive.
Guangdong newspapers occasionally talk about it.Fans of the model fiercely defend it against advocates of its rival promoted by the party chief of Chongqing deep inland, Bo Xilai, who has a flair for publicity.
A researcher at Guangdong's party school says Guangdong and Chongqing are not in opposition.
Guangdong, he says, could learn from Chongqing's efforts to absorb migrants from the countryside into city life.
Their registration in Guangdong, and especially in Shenzhen, a trailblazing economic zone bordering Hong Kong, involves fewer hoops.
Although registering as an NGO is somewhat easier in Guangdong than in many other parts of the country, NGO workers are still routinely harassed.
