IS XI THE NEW MAO? These portraits hang all over China, helping to create a cult of personality around both leaders.

President Xi Jinping is everywhere in China. His portrait hangs in shops, restaurants, and many people's homes. Schoolchildren learn his sayings. And his speeches dominate the evening news.

Xi has become the most powerful Chinese leader in decades. And this is prompting comparisons to Mao Zedong, China's revolutionary leader (1949-76).

At the height of the Mao era, people displayed his image everywhere--in their homes and workplaces, and even on badges worn on their clothing. His fatherly image (see above) helped give Mao a god-like status in the eyes of many Chinese.

Like Mao, Xi is popular, charismatic, and self-confident. His family history is one reason for that. His father was one of the founders of the People's Republic in 1949, and Xi grew up amid Communist elites.

Xi has published a book about his experiences as a young man sent to the countryside under Mao in order to become a better Communist. The book, which recounts his days shoveling manure and sleeping in flea-infested caves, has given Xi a heroic aura and helped increase his popularity.

At the Communist Party Congress in October, where Xi was given another five-year term as president, the Communist Party also wrote Xi's ideas into...