Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Profile: China's Communist Party Chooses Leadership

by VOA News

   Key members of China's Politburo Standing Committee, the highest body
   of the ruling Communist Party:

   1. Xi Jinping

   Age: 64

   Position: Party General Secretary/State President

   Life/Career: Son of a communist elder, survived China's Cultural
   Revolution before graduating from prestigious Tsinghua University Head
   of Chinese Communist Party since 2012, state president since 2013, has
   moved China towards a more assertive posture in both regional and world
   affairs; has overseen aggressive military build-up in South China Sea,
   ignoring competing territorial claims of Asia-Pacific neighbors; name
   enshrined in Communist Party constitution along with Mao Zedong and
   economic reformer Deng Xioping.

   2. Li Keqiang

   Age: 62

   Position: Premier

   Life/Career: Son of minor party officials; earned law degree from
   Peking University. Protégé of late Chinese leader Hu Jintao, rose
   through ranks to lead Communist Youth League before becoming China's
   youngest governor in 1988 at age 43.

   3. Li Zhanshu

   Age: 67

   Position: Director, Chinese Communist Party's General Office

   Life/Career: Held numerous leadership posts in rural China before named
   governor of Heilongjiang; served as party secretary in poor southern
   province of Guizhou for two years before he was given seat on the
   Politburo in 2012; effectively serves as Xi Jinping's chief of staff,
   plays prominent role in foreign affairs.

   4. Wang Yang

   Age: 62

   Position: Vice Premier

   Life/Career: former party chief of Guangdong province; widely seen as
   economic reformer who wants to boost private sector and transform
   China's economy from heavily reliant on industry to one driven by
   consumption and innovation.

   5. Wang Huning

   Age: 62

   Position: Director: Central Policy Research Council

   Life/Career: former academic at Shanghai's Fudan University,
   specializing in international relations and law; key policy advisor to
   former presidents Jiang Zemin

   and Hu Jintao.

   6. Zhao Leiji

   Age: 60

   Position: Director, Communist Party's Central Organization Department,
   anti-corruption chief

   Life/Career: former party secretary for western Shaanxi province.

   7. Han Zheng

   Age: 63

   Position: Shanghai party chief

   Life/Career: became Shanghai's youngest mayor in 2003 at age 48; named
   Shanghai party chief in 2012.