One by one, wearing dark blue suits, white shirts and red ties, the nine men who will lead China for the next five years trooped on to a stage in the Great Hall of the People.

They stood stiffly for 20 minutes yesterday while President Hu Jintao, the freshly reappointed Communist Party chief, introduced the new Politburo Standing Committee to the people. Then they were gone, to reappear in another five years when one will repeat the ritual as the new leader.

Such stilted ceremony has scarcely changed in 20 years. It is a stark contrast to the vitality on the streets outside, where new cities built by migrant workers seemingly spring up overnight and an internet-savvy middle class is motivated more by stock market swings than Marxism.

Yesterday’s lineup was the climax of the 17th party congress as months of secretive backroom deals ended in a consolidation of power for Mr Hu. He won, as expected, a second and final term in office and a mandate to press on with capitalist-style reforms.

More important perhaps for the future of China, he moved protégés into position as heir presumptives. Mr Hu described seven of the nine most powerful men in China as familiar faces and singled out the two youngest and newest. He said: “Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang are two relatively young comrades. They are 54 and 52 respectively.”

Those simple words carry much weight in the opaque Communist system of China, effectively anointing the pair to rule the country beyond 2012.

Ensuring an orderly leadership transition has long been one of the greatest challenges for the one-party state. A decade before taking office, Mr Hu was manoeuvred into position by the late Deng Xiaoping, who wanted to avoid the confusion that followed Mao’s death and who had already lost two heirs apparent in power struggles in the 1980s.

Mr Xi, the party chief of glittering Shanghai, emerged from the horse trading to rank sixth in the party hierarchy. The engineering graduate, who later gained a law degree, becomes responsible for day-to-day party affairs and thus has an edge in the contest to step into Mr Hu’s shoes.

Mr Li, the bespectacled party boss of the north-eastern rustbelt province of Liaoning, is ranked seventh and is likely to take on responsibility for economic and financial affairs, putting him in the running for the job of prime minister in five years.

But Mr Xi still has a long way to go. He is famed less for his economic acumen than for his marriage to Peng Liyuan, one of the most popular and glamorous singers in China, and his status as the “princeling” son of a late Communist elder. Significantly, neither he nor Mr Li was appointed to a vacant position as vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission - a job essential in the portfolio of the man who would be king.

The party was at pains to emphasise that it had elected the new leadership after introducing more democracy into the process. But if delegates choosing a new central committee on Sunday had more room to vote, it scarcely showed. Results of the ballot were secret, but delegates revealed that President Hu was the top vote-getter, winning all but two of the 2,235 votes.

The two rising stars also did well. Mr Xi garnered 2,227 votes and Mr Li got one fewer.

His power much consolidated, President Hu starts his second term faced with an array of problems.

In brief remarks, he sketched out the main themes for his second term. He placed economic growth above all, to ensure jobs and higher living standards – but pledged to protect China’s beleaguered environment and share wealth more equitably between the haves and have-nots.

On foreign policy, Mr Hu promised that China’s focus was on the well-being of its 1.3 billion people and ensuring peace, and would not try to project its growing power abroad.

As his new team stood awkwardly in front of a row of potted palms and a painting of the Great Wall, the leader seen as a capable, if cautious, pair of hands promised to continue the party’s goal to serve the people. “We are keenly aware of our difficult tasks and grave responsibilities,” he said.

New generation

Xi Jinping
Son of a military veteran and reformist ally of the late Deng Xiaoping, is trusted by President Hu Jintao although not viewed as belonging to any particular political camp. He is a physically imposing man whose wife is the glamorous soprano and Aids ambassador Peng Liyuan. He chooses his words carefully and will work a room to make sure everyone feels comfortable. A friend described him as lacking in charisma but someone who would not inflict harm

Li Keqiang
Born to a minor rural official in impoverished central Anhui province, made his way to Beijing University to study law after the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution and mixed with liberal thinkers. He climbed the ladder swiftly to become leader of the Communist Youth League at 38. By 43 he was China’s youngest governor in the most populous central province of Henan. His push for economic growth helped to offset such scandals as the cover-up of an Aids outbreak after the collection of tainted blood

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