Analysis-How China's Xi accumulated power, and why it matters in a third term

FILE PHOTO: A visitor takes pictures in front of a screen displaying an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, China September 3, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo

One of Xi Jinping's first moves after winning China's top job as general secretary of the Communist Party in 2012 was to reinstate regular "democratic life sessions" with fellow leaders in the 25-member Politburo, a staple of the Mao Zedong era.

Restoring the practice, which entails self-criticism in front of the general secretary, marked a small but symbolic example of how Xi has departed from China's collective leadership of recent decades and accumulated power unseen since Mao's time.