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The Washington Post

Headline: China's Generational Shift
People's Congress May Signal Rise Of New Leaders

Excerpt: Hu [Jintao] and others such as Vice Premier Wen Jiabao, Guangdong Gov. Li Changchun and party insider Zeng Qinghong come from a group of politicians known as the Fourth Generation. (The Third Generation is President Jiang Zemin, 75, and his colleagues; the Second Generation, the people surrounding paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, who consolidated power after the death of First Generation leader Mao Zedong in 1976.) ...

This group has seen both the failings of Marxism-Leninism -- in the collapse of the planned economy -- and the shortcomings of China's transition to a market economy -- in the vast and growing gap between rich and poor -- according to Cheng Li, a political science professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., and author of an upcoming book on China's new leaders.

"Some have wondered if Adam Smith might have been as wrong as Karl Marx, although the consequences of their errors have been profoundly different," Li said in a recent speech on the Fourth Generation. "As a result, new leaders are far more interested in discussing issues than defending 'isms.' "

One thing they are committed to defending, however, is the rule of the Communist Party, Li stressed. And the one ideological tool they will wield, he said, is nationalism.

For the complete article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22238-2001Mar4.html

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