Party Congress
Xi’s Heir Is Likely Among China’s Rising ‘Luckiest Generation’
- Younger cadres will reach inner circles when Xi nears 80
- Their charmed rise could open China or foster party control
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The spotlight at China’s leadership congress next month will fall on the elite line-up installed to steer the world’s No. 2 economy. But another lesser-watched group will also advance, and an eventual successor to President Xi Jinping is likely among them.
They’ve been called the Luckiest Generation: Communist Party cadres born in the 1970s. They missed both the Mao Zedong era, which unleashed havoc on education and the economy, and the high unemployment levels and housing crises facing today’s graduates.