With less than two weeks to go before the 18th Party Congress, speculation on China's upcoming leadership transition could not be more intense here in Beijing, where insiders are trading lists of potential Politburo Standing Committee members which disagree not only on who will be elevated to the highest ranks of China's leadership, but even how many members will be on the PBSC.

How are things going to play out in the during the Party Congress and in the coming transition? Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn this week for an insider look at China's upcoming leadership transition are three guests we are delighted to have here on Sinica: journalist and author John Garnaut from the Sydney Morning Herald, popular blogger and Tsinghua business professor Patrick Chovanec, and Jamil Anderlini who heads the Beijing bureau for the Financial Times. We think you'll enjoy what all three have to say.

Trying to keep up-to-date on China? In addition to listening to new episodes of Sinica through Popup Chinese, we invite all listeners to download and share this recording as a standalone mp3 file. You can grab the audio for previous shows either through our Sinica archives, or by subscribing to our dedicated iTunes feed. We also welcome all listeners to share your thoughts either in the discussion section below, or on our dedicated Sinica page on Facebook.
 said on
October 26, 2012
Links!

Beijing Shakes Up Military Leadership (Jeremy Page for the WSJ) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203630604578074493593937774.html

China Reaches Accord on Military Makeup (Jeremy Page for the WSJ) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203897404578077844219771274.html

Step in, then step back (Patrick Chovanec on the China Economic Review) http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/node/25557

The Creation Myth of Xi Jinping (John Garnaut for FP) http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/19/the_creation_myth_of_xi_jinping?

Exclusive: China power brokers agree on preferred leadership - sources (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-china-politics-idUSBRE89I0EG20121019?

Recommendations!

Kaiser: Primer on China’s Leadership Transition by Patrick Chovanec http://chovanec.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/primer-on-chinas-leadership-transition/

John: Understanding China’s Political System by Susan V. Lawrence and Michael F. Martin (Congressional Research Service) www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41007.pdf

Patrick: 1. The Eskimo and the Oil Man by Bob Reiss http://www.amazon.com/The-Eskimo-Oil-Man-Americas/dp/1455525243/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0

2. Cheap Natural Gas Gives New Hope to the Rust Belt by Ben Casselman and Russell Gold (WSJ) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444549204578020602281237088.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Jamil: Ancien Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville http://www.amazon.com/Ancien-Regime-Revolution-Penguin-Classics/dp/014144164X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351248200&sr=1-1&keywords=ancien+regime+and+the+french+revolution

Jeremy: Five Glorious Years in China (website) http://english.cntv.cn/special/glorious_china/homepage/index.shtml
Mark Lesson Studied