Chinese President Xi Jinping(File photo)

BEIJING, Sept. 21-- Guo Wei's lasting impression of Xi Jinping, Chinese President and Party and military leader, is of a man not afraid to get his feet -- or his whole body -- wet.

After an inspection tour of Dalian Ship-building Industry in the northeastern province of Liaoning in 2013, Xi stood in the pouring rain to talk with employees and posed for photographs with them, Guo, a Communist Party of China (CPC) affairs official of the company, recalled.

Since taking office, Xi, who is lauded for his easy-going personality by the public, has pushed ahead his counter-corruption drive, displaying the resolve to reform China's economic, political, cultural, social and environmental sectors.

After visiting a number of industries in Liaoning, Xi pledged to break systemic obstructions and revitalize old industrial bases in northeast China, an issue believed to reflect the complex and arduous reform task for the nation as a whole.

TOUGH WILL

Describing corruption as "a disease that calls for powerful drugs," Xi has urged all CPC members to fight corruption with courage of "a man who has to cut off his own snake-bitten hand to save his life."

Ensuing measures have displayed that Xi and his administration are serious about this commitment.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012, a sweeping campaign against corruption and extravagance has netted dozens of senior officials, including former senior leaders such as Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong and Ling Jihua.

"In the past, a large slice of our efforts, and funds, were spent on cozying up to local officials," said Li Zhonggang, who runs a bidding agency in north China's Shanxi Province. "But now we can concentrate on business."

"The measures Xi and his administration have taken are an onslaught on the vices of officialdom to improve the environment," a former governmental official of the province said. "Changes in the environment will bring about changes in the mindset of officials, bolstering public confidence and the government's authority."