Why Xi Jinping waited years to launch his crackdown on tycoons

Many were surprised by Xi's sweeping moves to rein in the private sector over the past 12 months

As China investors search for clues about which industries might be next in President Xi Jinpi­ng’s crackdown, they’re also pondering another question: Why now?
 
Over the decades Chinese leaders have regul­arly extolled the virtues of Marxism, socialism and the working class — all while overseeing super-charged economic growth that helped spawn some of the world’s most valuable companies. When Xi began his second term back in 2017, he identified China’s key problem as “unbalanced and inadequate” development and called for devoting “great energy” to fix it.
 
Yet still many were surprised by Xi’s sweeping moves to rein in