New China Leadership

More than 2,000 delegates to China's 18th Party Congress are meeting in Beijing this week to approve changes to the party's constitution and pick the next central committee, a group of about 200 people from whose ranks comes the Politburo, now with 24 people, and its standing committee, now with nine men. The standing committee wields supreme power in China. Vice President Xi Jinping is forecast to replace Hu Jintao as general secretary of the 82 million-member Communist Party.

Special Report Features

China Risks Talent Mismatch as Wang Qishan Gets Discipline Job

Vice Premier Wang Qishan, China’s counterpart to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was named to the Communist Party’s discipline body in a once-a- decade leadership transition, indicating he won’t have a post directly overseeing the economy in a new government.
China’s Urban Champion Li Gets Task of Reviving Reform

China’s premier-designate is famed for running a province that saw three fatal conflagrations and an enduring HIV blood scandal on his watch. The nation may be hoping his luck has changed.
Wukan Woes Show Land-Reform Delay Risks as Hu Leaves Task to Xi

Lin Zuluan, head of the council in the village of Wukan, has the same dinner interruption almost every evening. Unhappy residents come with complaints, almost always bringing up one topic: getting back their land.
Hu Keeping Military Post May Weaken China’s Xi as Tensions Flare

Xi Jinping may have to wait two years to gain control of the world’s largest army after he takes the Communist Party’s top job this week, a delay that may weaken China’s ability to address tensions with Japan and the U.S.
Harvard-Trained Communists Vie for Influence as Party Gathers

China’s central bank governor and statistics chief signaled October data to be published from today will show growth improving this quarter in the world’s second-largest economy.
Hu Sets China Income Target for Xi as Communists Gather

President Hu Jintao said China must double per-capita income by 2020, setting a target for the incoming generation of leaders to be unveiled at the close of a Communist Party Congress that started today.
Mao Zedong Wouldn’t Like Chinese Society Today, Rittenberg Says

China has become a place Mao Zedong would not like “because it has lost its soul,” said Sidney Rittenberg Sr., who worked as a translator for the former leader of the world’s most-populous nation.
Xi Gains Power Mixing Father’s Capitalism With Mao’s Marxism

Days after Xi Jinping became chief in 2002 of Zhejiang, China’s hotbed of private enterprise, he set out on a tour of the province. His message: more capitalism.
China’s Wealthiest Discreetly Stay Away at Party Congress

Zong Qinghou, China’s richest man, traveled to Beijing in March to represent his home province at the annual meeting of the country’s legislature. He won’t be going to next month’s Communist Party congress that will unveil China’s new generation of leaders.
China Communists Near Soviet Tenure as Leader Pick Looms

China’s Communist Party will approach its defunct Soviet counterpart in longevity in power after it navigates the leadership succession clouded by concern over Xi Jinping’s status, a Bloomberg News survey indicates.
Xi-Li Inheriting Weakest Economy Growth Since Deng Opened China

China’s new leaders are poised to inherit the weakest economic growth since Deng Xiaoping three decades ago and may need to borrow from his market-opening tool kit to avert a steeper decline.
Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite

Xi Jinping, the man in line to be China’s next president, warned officials on a 2004 anti-graft conference call: “Rein in your spouses, children, relatives, friends and staff, and vow not to use power for personal gain.”