China's Midterm Jockeying: Gearing Up for 2012

China is set to experience a major leadership turnover at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012. Who are the most promising candidates for these supreme leadership bodies? What are the main characteristics and principal criteria for the advancement of these newcomers? Can one intelligently forecast the possible leadership lineup and factional distribution of power? To what extent will this new generation of leaders change the way Chinese politics operates? This essay aims to shed light on these questions and others by studying the 62 provincial chiefs - Party secretaries and governors - of China's 31 province-level administrative entities.