The next leader of a fifth of the world’s people is a Communist aristocrat married to a star singer -- but his views are a mystery, hidden behind Party secrecy and an enigmatic demeanour.
Barring an unprecedented upset, Xi Jinping, 59, is to assume China’s paramount political post as general secretary of the all-powerful Party at its five-yearly congress beginning this week.
He replaces the outgoing Hu Jintao and the promotion ensures he will take over the national presidency from Hu early next year.
Xi inherits the mantle with his party’s key claim to ruling legitimacy -- economic growth -- threatened by a rare slowdown, and its unity shaken by an embarrassing scandal involving one of his former Politburo colleagues.
But owing to the party’s intensely secretive nature, observers have found it hard to pin down Xi’s beliefs and allegiances -- or how he will address the challenges.
Xi has an impeccable political pedigree as the son of a respected figure in the revolution that brought the Communists to power in 1949, and previously headed some of China’s most economically dynamic and reform-minded areas.