It’s been a snowy and bitterly cold morning in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
It’s a place where journalists and their cameras are usually not allowed; its brutal history makes it a highly sensitive location.
But this morning it was shut down to the usual tourist hordes, and we were invited in and allowed to film freely; a mark of a special occasion.
The occasion this time is an annual political event known as Lianghui or the Two Sessions.
It’s China’s equivalent of the State opening of Parliament, a moment of pomp and ceremony, a moment where the curtain rises just a touch on what China’s leaders think, and what they want.
Nearly 3000 delegates are here from across the country, all members of China’s legislative body.
Many were wearing the traditional dress of China’s many ethnic minorities; a show of diversity deemed highly important.
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In theory, they are here to discuss policy and vote on new laws and constitutional changes; in reality, they rubber-stamp decisions already made behind closed doors.
But there is no denying that the spectacle of it all is impressive.
In the cavernous Great Hall Of The People, everything was pitch perfect; the band, the staging, even the tea cups were refilled in perfect choreographed unity.
Trying to decipher where China is headed is always a little bit of a game of reading between the lines, and so it was today.
The economy, for instance, is clearly still sluggish. The published growth target of 4.5 to 5% is the lowest goal China has set itself for over 30 years.
But this year, there is a little more insight about what China’s ambitions might be, and that’s because this year sees the publication of China’s latest ‘Five Year Plan’, a blueprint of sorts on what China’s strategy should be between now and 2030.
It might sound a bit lofty, but in the past these plans have been highly indicative; in the 1980s, for example, it was a Five Year Plan that heralded China’s infamous Reform and Opening Up — the policy that ultimately made it rich.
This year’s plan focuses on how China can really grow and win through leadership in the high-tech race; it seeks technological self-reliance, national security, and state guidance of the economy.
While Xi Jinping didn’t speak himself today, there is absolutely no doubt that everything laid out was a reflection of his leadership and his vision for an ascendant China.
He comes into this annual political moment in arguably one of his strongest positions for years; hot off a year of outmanoeuvring Donald Trump in the US-China trade war, purging swathes of his military’s leadership and further consolidating his absolute power.
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You can see it in everything from the staging to the deferential body language; his power is all but unchallengeable.
And it’s absolutely designed to send a message to the world.
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While Lianghui is primarily focused on domestic policy, it is not happening in a vacuum and events in the Middle East are the unavoidable backdrop.
The reality is that China won’t mind the contrast between the show they staged today, with all its displays of unity, order and might, with the chaos they see being unleashed by President Donald Trump.
It’s a contrast that suits their narrative – China is the superpower worth betting on.
