With the Communist Party of China (CPC) approaching a generational leadership transition in 2012, extensive appointments of provincial leaders were made in 2010. The 2012 line-up is already relatively firm (though China's transitions work by precedent rather than hard and fast rules). Meanwhile, the country is laying the groundwork for additional leadership changes in 2017 and for the sixth generation of leaders to take over in 2022. At the provincial level, 16 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions saw a leadership reshuffle. China's political system contains two parallel tracks — the CPC and the Chinese state. On the provincial or regional level, there are two parallel leaders, the party secretary (the most powerful figure) and the governor (or "chairman" or "acting governor," depending on the province and circumstances). Newly appointed to their posts were eight party secretaries, eight governors/chairmen and four acting governors. Adding these changes to the appointment of party secretaries in five other provinces in November 2009, a total of 25 new faces are now displayed in the CPC's elite inner circle. Eight of these officials were transferred to their new posts from another province, four were transferred from a central government ministry or a centrally administrated bureau and 13 came from the same region. Ages of the new appointees range from 50 to 60, which means they will be no more than 62 years old by 2012, when the CPC's 18th National Congress takes place. (Under the CPC's unspoken age restrictions, provincial-level leaders should retire before reaching 65 years of age, and the cap for entering the CPC Central Committee and Politburo is 67.) The congress will see the reshuffle of the 204-member CPC Central Committee as well as the 25-member Politburo and, at the highest level, the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, which comprises the country's most powerful leaders. In China, provincial leaders are the strongest candidates for key positions of national leadership. Most politicians at the national level have provincial experience, and former provincial leaders have historically held many seats in the Central Committee. This phenomenon has become more prominent in recent years due in part to Beijing's effort to promote policies that are better suited for the regions and to strengthen regional loyalty toward the center. Beijing also is encouraging cross-regional leadership exchange and is increasingly putting officials in charge of provinces that are not their places of origin. During the 2007 reshuffle, six provincial leaders (including the party secretaries of Beijing, Xinjiang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangdong) were elected to the Politburo and 41 provincial leaders became part of the Central Committee. It is estimated that the percentage of Politburo members who had provincial leadership experience increased from 50 percent in 1992 to 76 percent in 2007. Provincial leadership has increasingly become a prerequisite for key state posts. (click here to enlarge image) The 25 newly appointed provincial chiefs, as well as 17 current provincial chiefs born after the 1950s (among a total of 62 provincial chiefs), are well suited due to age and political status for promotion during the fifth-generational leadership transition in 2012 and the leadership reshuffle in 2017. Some will also be strong candidates for the sixth-generational leadership transition expected to occur in 2022. While none of them is currently a member of the Politburo and therefore would not likely be promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012, their promotions or equivalent transfers to provincial-level posts and their age advantage put them in a strong position to compete for other key positions in 2012, when nearly 60 percent of Central Committee and Politburo members will be reshuffled. This could further pave the way for them to join the Politburo or Politburo Standing Committee in 2017. At that time, the sixth-generational state leadership, including the president, chairman of the National People's Congress and premier, could emerge with a view toward the 2022 transition. Among these promising leaders, Hu Chunhua, Zhou Qiang and Sun Zhengcai have attracted the most attention as the country's anticipated sixth generation of top leaders. All of them were born after 1960 and by 2022 will be no more than 62 years old, which would enable them to serve another two terms if they are promoted to state leaders and rule from 2022 to 2032. This is in line with the CPC's preference to have the country's most important leaders serve two terms to sustain power and policy. Meanwhile, both Zhou and Hu have strong backgrounds in the China Communist Youth League (CCYL), a factional base that has close ties to President Hu Jintao, who served as first secretary of the CCYL in the 1980s. The CCYL has always been a power base for generating prospective leaders, but Hu gave it even greater prominence after becoming president by promoting a number of CCYL people, in part to strengthen his power base. In fact, since many CCYL leaders are currently assuming provincial positions, this clique is extremely well-situated for the sixth-generational reshuffle. Both emerging from the CCYL and having served as its first secretary, Zhou Qiang and Hu Chunhua were promoted to provincial leaders at very early ages. Zhou was made Hunan governor in 2007 at the age of 47, making him the country's youngest governor at that time. Hu Chunhua has been working in Tibet for 23 years, partly coinciding with Hu Jintao's term as Tibetan party secretary, and therefore has close personal ties with the president. Hu Chunhua was promoted to Hebei governor in 2009 at the age of 46 and a year later became the party secretary of Inner Mongolia. These officials have taken a classic path from the CCYL to higher leadership, suggesting promising political futures for both when the next generation assumes power in China.