I see three Deep Messages in President Xi Jinping's inspection tour of Liaoning Province, with his call for revitalization of China's northeast region and his visits to a robotics and automation enterprise, a military museum, and areas of flood control and ecological restoration.

The first Deep Message is Common Prosperity. Let's understand the background. China's Northeast was the center of New China's original large-scale industrialization, based on the central planning model of the former Soviet Union. While rapid development of heavy industry had initial benefits, China's subsequent reform, market orientation, entrepreneurial companies, and consumerism caused economic decline in Liaoning – and thus the long-term "northeast revitalization strategy," in which President Xi just now expressed "full confidence." The Deep Message here is how Xi promoted "revitalization" in the context of "featuring common prosperity and happiness for all, not just a few." Common Prosperity is noteworthy because some commentators believe that China has been downplaying Common Prosperity because of the country's economic slowdown. While there are always modifications to meet real-world conditions, President Xi makes it clear that Common Prosperity is, and will continue to be, a priority for him, and thus for the country – and let no one doubt it.

The second Deep Message relates to China's growing military strength in general and perhaps to Taiwan in particular. As is his custom, President Xi visited a military site of high symbolism – here, the Liaoshen Campaign Memorial, which recounts the history of what China calls its liberation of northeast China, a crucial victory of the People's Liberation Army led by the Chinese Communist Party over the Kuomintang Nationalist government during the late stages of the Civil War. Perhaps, a reminder of what happened more than seven decades ago? Perhaps, a reminder that the Civil War has not yet ended?

The third Deep Message integrates three of President Xi's themes in Liaoning: promoting scientific and technological innovation in enterprises; developing the regional strategy of revitalization; and ecological restoration and conservation. Call the first "Innovation," the second "Coordination," and the third "Green" – and we realize that Innovation, Coordination and Green are the first three of the five "New Concepts of Development," which President Xi has been using as his overarching economic guideline. Since 2015, when Xi introduced what was originally called the "Five Major Concepts of Development," I have been following it closely, tracking its theoretical power in affecting practical policies. For example, I see how President Xi positions environmental protection as synergistic with, not antagonistic to, economic development.

This is why I do not count it as coincidence that, during this same week, the lead story on the first page of People Daily reported Xi's latest article in Qiushi, the Party's theoretical journal, on implementing the "New Development Concept" – which, Xi states, answers a series of theoretical and practical questions about the purpose, driving force, methods and approaches of high-quality development. Xi exhorts the whole Party to implement the New Development Concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, by paying attention to "innovative development, coordinated development, green development, open development, and shared development" so that together they form a synergy. In People's Daily, President Xi writes to stress the theoretical. In Liaoning, he walks to stress the practical.

Wherever President Xi goes, whatever he says, we can follow the events and hear the words. But always, we look for the Deep Message. I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

Script: Robert Lawrence Kuhn

Editors: Hao Xinxin, Xiao Qiong

Designer: Qi Haiming

Producer: Wang Ying

Supervisors: Ge Jing, Li Shouen, Adam Zhu

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