Five Chinese officials to watch as Xi prepares rejig

As thousands of Chinese officials hurry about Beijing in the highly choreographed exercise in political theatre known as the National People's Congress, it's easy to get lost in the crowd. The gathering, however, provides a rare opportunity to see how delegates, ministers and government advisors handle themselves on the national stage. A look at those who could emerge as national leaders

CHEN MINER, 55, Guizhou party chief
Chen, whose career has dovetailed with that of President Xi Jinping, is a potential dark horse competitor for the next-generation leadership to be installed in 2022. He became governor of Guizhou in December 2012 just 33 days after Xi became Chinese Communist Party chief. In July, Chen was promoted to provincial party chief. As propaganda chief in Zhejiang, which Xi led from 2002 to 2007, Chen shepherded Xi's regular column in the provincial newspaper. More than 200 of those columns were compiled into a book touted as the origins of Xi's political philosophies.

FANG XINGHAI, 51, vice-chairman, CSRC

Fang displayed calm and confidence in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he also impressed global power-brokers with his sense of humour and fluent English. A doctorate in economics from Stanford, Fang was named vice-chairman of the China Securities and Regulatory Commission (CSRC) last year. He was an economist at the World Bank in Washington before being lured back to China in 1998 by Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, who was then president of China Construction Bank Corp. Before his current role, Fang was a director of a key financial and economic panel led by Xi.

HE LIFENG, 61, vice-chairman, reform commission
The third-ranked deputy of China's top economic planner oversees the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, Xi's signature push to build an intercontinental web of infrastructure and trade links, with China at the centre. His ties with Xi date back to the mid-1980s, when Xi was deputy mayor of the southeastern port of Xiamen and He was in charge of the city's fiscal affairs. He was among a handful of guests invited to the low-key wedding in 1987 of Xi and People's Liberation Army singer Peng Liyuan.

MIAO WEI, 60, industry and IT minister
Miao, one of the two youngest cabinet ministers when appointed in 2010, runs the party group responsible for upgrading China's massive manufacturing sector. He was once dubbed China's Carlos Ghosn after turning Dongfeng Motor Co from an indebted state-owned military truck manufacturer into a profitable automaker in the early 2000s. An engineer by training, he holds sway over some of China's most strategic industries, including automobiles, telecom and software.

XU LIN, 52, deputy director, Cyberspace Administration
Appointed in June as the youngest member of the Cyberspace Administration of China's leadership circle, Xu has the potential to become the top leader of the agency responsible for the world's largest internet. The regulator is answerable only to Xi's central group on cybersecurity and was part of the decision to require Chinese banks and government agencies to purchase more information technology equipment from local vendors. The former Shanghai propaganda chief worked briefly with Xi during his half-year stint as Shanghai party boss in 2007.