The transition, set to start just two days after Americans go to the polls, will set a new cast for the powerful Politburo Standing Committee -- a small group of officials who will wield tremendous power over China's tightly-controlled economy for years to come.
That economy, the world's second largest, has sprinted to prominence over the past three decades with year after year of sustained 10% growth.
But China's economic growth has slowed recently. In the third quarter, the government reported GDP expansion of only 7.4%. The economy's performance, while not a disaster, was still the slowest quarterly growth posted in years and underscored concerns about the sustainability of Beijing's model.
At the heart of these concerns is a set of structural problems, all of which require reforms that the previous party leadership -- divided over policy -- was unable to complete.
