Red China's blue-blooded coup

Few surprises are expected at the very top. Xi Jinping is due to replace Hu Jintao as General Secretary of the party that has ruled China since 1949. Li Keqiang is set to succeed Wen Jiabao as Premier. 

The fifth generation of leaders will also have a raft of knotty problems to deal with. They inherit the weakest economic growth since 1999, with expansion seen at 7.7 per cent this year. They will also have to deal with rising unrest over land grabs and corruption. The event takes place against a backdrop of fraught relations with Japan over the contested islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyutai in China.
Analysts are split over whether the new generation of leaders will be more reform-minded, or stick to the guns of their predecessors. Hu Deping, the son of the late Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang, has called on the leadership to embrace change. "Reforms cannot be wasted, promises cannot be abandoned," Mr Hu wrote in the Economic Observer, saying the country's current woes threaten development and could interfere with the Party's power to govern. "We need to create conditions to let private enterprises enter monopoly industries, encourage fair and lawful competition, create and regulate open and fair markets," he wrote.

View from the streets: What do the people think?

Gao Qian

30, saleswoman, from Hebei

"There is too much unfairness here and the government controls everything. I have to say we need more human rights. I don't feel disappointed with the current leadership, but there's nothing to be very cheerful about either. In China, leadership is an issue for someone else, not the business of people like me, so I don't need to care about it that much. I have no say in how the leadership works, it's not like the US, as we see on TV these days, where their future President has to debate for the right to rule the country. Here, the leadership's main concern is not the interests of the people."

Kang Li

27, design director, from Chengdu

"I feel there are a lot of things that are unbalanced or unfair in society. The people who have the resources can do things, if not, there is nothing available if you want to do something in normal ways … I feel the leadership wants to do something for the people, but they have to spend most of their energy and social resources on the political struggle. They are not 100 per cent focused on their work for the people, because 50 per cent of their time is taken up with internal struggles, about 30 per cent for personal interest, and only 20 per cent for the public. So the regime is not working efficiently. I don't feel there will be many changes made by the new leadership since the older generations are still there. The only hope would come from the generations of those born in the 1970s and 1980s. I don't know too much about politics, but I feel it is not good to only have one party ruling … China won't change overnight, it is like an old house that needs refurbishment and maintenance day-to-day; it is not better than demolition and rebuilding. I hope the new leadership can do more innovation. They won't be too bad, I hope."