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    • Column One
      • Afghanistan
      • American Samoa
      • Armenia
      • Australia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bahrain
      • Bangladesh
      • Bhutan
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Central Asia
      • China
      • Cook Islands

      • Cyprus
      • East Asia
      • East Timor
      • Fiji
      • French Polynesia
      • Georgia
      • Guam
    • Column Two
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
      • Japan
      • Jordan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Kiribati
      • Kuwait
      • Kyrgyzstan
      • Laos
      • Lebanon
      • Macau
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Marshall Islands
      • Micronesia
      • Mongolia
    • Column Three
      • Myanmar
      • Nauru
      • Nepal
      • New Caledonia
      • New Zealand
      • Niue
      • North Korea
      • Northern Marianas
      • Oceania
      • Oman
      • Pakistan
      • Palau
      • Palestine
      • Papua New Guinea
      • Philippines
      • Qatar
      • Samoa
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • Solomon Islands
    • Column Four
      • South Asia
      • Southeast Asia
      • South Korea
      • Sri Lanka
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Tajikistan
      • Thailand
      • Tibet
      • Tokelau
      • Tonga
      • Turkey
      • Turkmenistan
      • Tuvalu
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vanuatu
      • Vietnam
      • Wallis and Futuna
      • West Asia
      • Yemen
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Tracking China's Leadership Transition

November 8th, 2012
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping walks past Chinese President Hu Jintao (front left), former Chinese President Jiang Zemin (front right) and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (front right) during the opening session of the 18th Communist Party Congress held at the Great Hall of the People on November 8, 2012 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping walks past Chinese President Hu Jintao (front left), former Chinese President Jiang Zemin (front right) and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (front right) during the opening session of the 18th Communist Party Congress held at the Great Hall of the People on November 8, 2012 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)


As China begins its once-a-decade handover of power at the upper reaches of the Communist Party, Asia Society offers a range of perspectives on the 2012 transition between outgoing President Hu Jintao and President-to-be Xi Jinping. Scroll through the commentary, reportage, and videos below for insights into this opaque political process.

  • From left: New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos, former U.S. Ambassador to China J. Stapleton Roy, and UC San Diego professor Dr. Susan Shirk discussed Xi Jinping's leadership at an Asia Society event moderated by Orville Schell (far right) on November 7, 2013. (Kenji Takigami/Asia Society)
    New York

    Xi Jinping, One Year Later: Will He Be the 'Chinese Gorbachev'?

    After one year in power, Chinese president Xi Jinping has largely consolidated his power, but he still faces "perilous" challenges, according to a panel Thursday night at Asia Society in New York.
  • Evan Osnos. (World Economic Forum/Adam Nadel/Flickr)

    'High Bar' of the New 'Chinese Dream'

    Watch: The New Yorker's Evan Osnos on Chinese President Xi Jinping's political slogan.
  • Pope Francis (L) (Catholic Church (England and Wales)/Flickr), and Xi Jinping disembarking plane in Africa with his wife, Peng Liyuan (R). (Getty Images)

    The Pope and the Party

    Uncovering similarities between China and the Vatican.
  • Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, left, walks past then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, right, after the closing session of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party in November 2012. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

    Will Xi Jinping be Different?

    Political scientist Andrew Nathan discusses newly installed Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s relationship to his predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, the likelihood of political reform under Xi.
  • China's newly appointed leader Xi Jinping gestures as he attends a meeting with "foreign experts" at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 5, 2012. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

    2013, and Beyond: Why Reform May Be Mission Impossible for China's Xi Jinping

    Facing many different political factions and conflicts, the cards are stacked against China's new leader, writes Ouyang Bin.
  • The 18th Party Congress, Beijing, November 2012. (Flickr/Remko Tanis)

    For China's New Leaders, the Spirit of Deng Remains Strong

    Deng Xiaoping biographer Ezra Vogel breaks down four major political perspective in modern China, and suggests which one "trumps" them all.
  • Wu Qing. (Jonah Kessel)

    Interview: Chinese Activist Wu Qing

    "I want to change China from a country ruled of man and by man to a country ruled of law."
  • Asia Society's Orville Schell tells Asia Society members that China's government has a "leadership deficit."

    China's Leadership Change: A Paradox in Transition

    Asia Society's Orville Schell tells Asia Society members that China's government has a leadership "deficit."
  • Chairman Mao Zedong statue, Dandong, China. (Shining75/Flickr)

    China's Party Congress: Transition Delayed

    Asia Society Associate Fellow Steven Lewis says observers both inside and outside China were disappointed with a changing of the guard that may not bring much change.
  • The new Politburo Standing Committee members (Xi Jinping, 3rd from left) meet the press at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 15, 2012. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

    Age Matters to China's Politburo

    How did China's self-interested ruling elite manage to agree on how power at the top would be shared?

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