"Leadership and succession have long been at the crux of Chinese political studies. In a society such as China, where the process of succession is not fully institutionalized, an evolution of political events and a prediction of the future rely extensively on analyses of leaders and their generational characteristics. The history of the People's Republic of China (PRC) indicates that changes in the composition of the political elite often reflect-and sometimes herald-broad social, economic, and political changes in the country at large. This study focuses on the new generation of PRC political elite, the so-called fourth generation of leaders-those officials who are now in their late forties and fifties."
