12 things to watch out for at China's 19th party congress

Beijing

CHINA'S ruling Communist Party on Wednesday opens its 19th Congress, at which President Xi Jinping will map out his ambitions for the country for the next five years and beyond, likely to be high on aspiration but short on concrete details.

Here are some key factors to watch out for:

Mr Xi is currently the party's general secretary, but not its chairman, a title Mao Zedong and his two successors, Hua Guofeng and Hu Yaobang, both held. Becoming party chairman would put Mr Xi at the same level as Mao and could allow him to effectively end three decades of collective leadership, giving him unparallel…