A Successor Generation

Chinese history is replete with tales of imperial intrigue and sanguinary succession struggles. No one, perhaps, understands the fate that may befall a leader's policies after his death better than Deng Xiaoping, who was twice purged by Mao Tse-tung but bounced back in 1978 to begin dismantling Maoism. Not long after Deng came to power, he told a gathering of top officials that choosing his successors was "a task of century-long significance." Since then, he has taken every possible precaution to ensure that Dengism will outlast him.

Deng began his effort by abandoning the personality cult and dictatorial system fostered by Mao. In 1980 he replaced the autocratic position of party chairman with an eleven-man secretariat. In an even bolder move, he gave the spotlight position of General Secretary not to himself but to Hu Yaobang, 70, a former chief of the Communist Youth League and his occasional bridge partner. Since then, Deng has chosen to operate largely behind the scenes, stressing that the reform program is not his work but that of the party. He has thus allowed his two deputies, General Secretary Hu and Premier Zhao Ziyang, 66, to establish themselves as the leading lights of the "second echelon" that has assumed the full mantle of power. With a little help from Deng, Hu and Zhao have in turn been grooming a "third echelon" of pragmatists, who should see the reforms into the 21st century.

The leader of the newest wave, and the fastest-rising star in the political firmament today, is Hu Qili (pronounced Chee-lee), 55, a gifted Communist Youth League activist. Even before the Communist takeover in 1949, Hu Qili was recruited for the league's secretariat while a student at Peking University. ! There he attracted the attention of Hu Yaobang. Hu Qili is now the General Secretary's protege and, according to Politburo Member Peng Zhen, the likely successor. Hu Qili is described as a smooth and charismatic man. "He is what we call both Red and expert," says a middle-level party cadre. "He has good party credentials and is an intellectual too."

Another likely leader for the '90s is Wang Zhaoguo, 44, director of the Communist Party's general office. His story is almost a Chinese version of a Horatio Alger tale. In 1980 Wang, who was then a deputy factory director, was assigned to take Deng on an inspection tour of Hubei province's No. 2 automobile plant. The bespectacled technician made such a good impression on Deng that he was promptly transferred to Peking. Two years later, Wang was elevated to the Central Committee.

One more "Red expert" on the fast track is Li Peng, 57, considered the man most likely to succeed Zhao Ziyang as Premier. A Soviet-trained engineer and a technocrat who once headed China's nuclear-energy program, Li became one of the country's four Vice Premiers two years ago. His principal rival for the premiership is Vice Premier Tian Jiyun, 56. Tian's main credential is that he helped to run Sichuan province for ten years as deputy to Zhao.

Waiting in the wings are several others. Among them is Hu Jintao, 42, an economist who recently transferred from the Communist Youth League to be party chief of Guizhou province, one of the country's most challenging posts. Like Wang Zhaoguo, Hu Jintao was discovered by Deng on an inspection tour in the provinces. One of the youngest of the heirs apparent is Zhang Wei, 33, a Communist Youth League follower of Hu Qili, who has been active in Tianjin City's economic reforms.

Nearly all the young reformers have the advantage of being sponsored by friends in high places. Yet the protege system has one drawback: none of the third-echelon leaders has been through the byzantine politicking and the festering feuds that have long characterized life at the top of the party. In Chinese politics, as Deng knows all too well, there is no substitute for that experience.