The People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) flagship newspaper, published an article on Monday swearing allegiance to General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping and calling on the nation to grasp a historic opportunity facing China.



"We are fully aware of our responsibilities. We should resolutely support the core, faithfully follow the lingxiu, use our courage and morale...and make strides toward a brighter future," read the article under the byline of Xuan Yan.



The word lingxiu means "leader" with a positive political connotation and refers to highly revered state leaders.



"The word lingxiu means more than just a leader. It is often bestowed to a leader who enjoys the highest prestige, who is the most capable and who is widely recognized by the entire Party," Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times.



Su said the emergence of a lingxiu is the symbol of a mature political party, adding that since the 18th CPC National Congress, Xi's achievements in various fields, especially the anti-graft drive, have been widely acknowledged.



It is the first time for People's Daily to refer to Xi as lingxiu. The CPC identified Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, as the core of the Party in 2016.



The military's official PLA Daily also referred to Xi as lingxiu on January 5 last year, quoting PLA Navy sailors and military officers from China's aircraft carrier Liaoning as saying that "we are sailing in the sight of lingxiu."



The People's Daily article called for efforts to grasp the historic opportunity facing China. It said China was facing a period in which the timeframes of the two centenary goals converged, and both dreams and hard work were needed to achieve the country's goals of creating a moderately prosperous society, modernization and building China into a "great modern socialist country."



Noting the problems facing the world, such as a "democratic deficit," "governance deficit," "development trap," wealth gap, terrorism and climate change, the article said "the drawbacks of capitalism-led political and economic systems are emerging; the global governance system is experiencing profound changes and a new international order is taking shape."



"There were discussions over whether China's window of strategic opportunity had come to an end as economic globalization faced major setbacks. However, this article has cleared the confusion by pointing out the historic opportunity China now faces," Su said.



"It was exactly because China is at the crossroads that the country and the Party demanded a lingxiu at the core to grasp the opportunity and face up to the global challenge," Su said.



"The world needs China, as all humans are living in a community with a shared future," the article said.



"That creates broad strategic room for our efforts to uphold peace and development and gain an advantage," read the article.



