BEIJING - IT MAY still be early days, but China caught a glimpse this month of the young Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders slated to take over the reins of the country in 2022.

In an opaque political culture with a strong emphasis on seniority, eyebrows were raised when five CCP young turks were prominently featured by a magazine published by the party mouthpiece.

THE POST-1960 STARS OF CHINA ZHOU QIANG, 49 Position: Hunan Governor ... more

Global Personalities (Huanqiu Renwu), a bi-monthly by the People's Daily, splashed on its cover five leaders in their 40s. It was a sign, said analysts, that they are likely to form the core of China's 'Sixth Generation' leadership as the CCP moves to institutionalise power transfer.

The quintet are: Governors Zhou Qiang, Hu Chunhua and Nur Bekri, Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai and Communist Youth League boss Lu Hao.

The CCP used the same strategy when it unveiled the 'Fifth Generation' leaders some five years ago, said analyst Li Cheng, who has written extensively on China's elite politics.

Then, half a dozen leaders such as current Vice-President Xi Jinping and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang were given media prominence before being brought into the elite decision-making Politburo in 2007.

Mr Xi, 55, has since become the front runner to replace President Hu Jintao, 66, in 2012. If the current trend continues, he will serve for two terms of five years each and step down in 2022.

Waiting to step up to the plate are the five young stars, who have been referred to as the liu ling hou, or those born after 1960.

A key difference between them and the Fifth Generation leaders is that they have a better education.

While the likes of Mr Xi saw his teenage years almost entirely disrupted by the decade-long Cultural Revolution, which started in 1966, these post-1960 leaders largely escaped the turmoil of radical Maoist politics.

Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.