China' s leadership succession process begins

With the official appointment of Xi Jinping , whose wife Peng Liyuan is the leading soprano and well-known folksong singer in China , as a Vice Chairman of the very powerful Central Military Commission, the succession process at China' s topmost level of leadership has begun. In other words, the "leading core" is now moving from the Hu Jintao's fourth to Xi Jinping's fifth generation after that of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. All political appointments in China are now limited to two 5-year terms to ensure that the polity is system-based rather than personality- focused as in the last ten years of Mao' s life. Mao, Deng, Jiang, Hu and Xi are not related through any familial ties.