An idiom inspired by a classic Tang Dynasty poem is now a modifier commonly used in the official political speech of the CCP to refer to the need to innovate the party’s communication of its political and social agendas — ultimately making them more palatable, and more easily accepted.

A portmanteau of the Chinese words for the United States (美國) and the Western world (西方), “US-West” (美西方) is a new and subtly derogatory way to refer to the US and its allies. It implies that Washington’s allies lack agency and blindly follow their lead — not due to shared interests or values, but simply out of fear of antagonizing the US.

“Self-revolution” refers to a process by which the Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping proposes to remain “pure” by rooting out corrupt and ineffectual cadres from their own ranks. Posited as Xi Jinping’s answer to the historical problem of dynastic rise and fall, it promises to confer the Party with an indefinite mandate to rule, or contin…