It may also be possible that Xi is imagining the revival of china as a world empire that would rival that of the USA today, and this is born of both hubris, as well as egomaniacal desire of "washing away the shameful century".

I think people like that are the reasons why the world isn't at peace. China could've become the next japan. They could've probably overtaken the US that way too. But now, they've "alerted" the eagle, and the US will never let china become a superpower.

>"the US will never let china become a superpower."

It already is. To the less degree than the US for now. Could go either way in the future. But if you think that the US could go on forever dictating what other countries allowed to do I think you are wrong.

I think Xi also cares about China, and he truly believes that a fully managed state and economy is better than democracy and free markets. Also note that Deng was in control in 1989. It's a bit more complicated than good vs evil here (which is true generally).

Not exactly. Jiang / Hu were of a similar faction and were already secured. Xi came own his own and had to secure his place. A lot of policies were done in that direction.

Instead Jiang / Hu had their own agendas including moving vast amounts of capital outside and also for themselves e.g. some of the largest VCs there. Some of Xi's policies e.g. restricting movement of capital has to do with this.

Indeed. In China, we used to joke that Deng's opening policy has created the second republic, on the contrary to Mao's first republic. With Xi's coronation, the second republic has died.