Party General Secretary Hu Jintao and People's Republic of China (PRC) Premier Wen Jiabao have governed China for nearly six months since their installation at the 16th Party Congress in November 2002 and the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) in March 2003. Since taking power, they have faced unexpected crises and new dilemmas. They have also had an opportunity to put in place policy departures that give concrete expression to the abstruse ideological prescriptions of the party congress. And, they have imparted their own style of governance. Judged from the record so far, Hu and Wen have built on themes of the Jiang Zemin era to pursue an activist agenda of liberalizing economic and political reform and have projected a liberal approach to leadership.

The 10th National People's Congress (NPC) completed the succession of China's top leaders that began with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 16th Party Congress in fall 2002 and has preoccupied China's politics for more than a year. The NPC's appointment of new leaders to most top state posts has ended the suspense regarding the leadership transition, but it has not done much to clarify ambiguities about their power relative to each other. Nevertheless, initiatives by the new leadership under party General Secretary and now People's Republic of China (PRC) President Hu Jintao have made it clear that China's leaders do not intend a conservative, status quo approach to the country's political issues and policy problems, but rather have already embarked on a clearly activist agenda.