The twentieth congress of the Communist Party has started in Beijing, the place where party leader Xi Jinping is breaking with written and unwritten rules. A highly unusual third term as party leader, the country’s most powerful office, seems like a formality.

To date, 2,296 Communist Party delegates have gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for the central party congress, elected by secret ballot from among 96 million members. China’s most important political meeting, often behind closed doors, lasts six days. Saturday is the closing ceremony, one day after it is decided which party members will be allowed to join the seven-member Standing Committee.

At the party congress, the past years are evaluated and the main features for the following five years and beyond are laid down. On the day of the closing ceremony, delegates vote on the work report of the party congress, amendments to the party charter and the anti-corruption body. They also elect a new Central Committee, a 200-member party body augmented by about 180 rotating members that will form the 25-member Politburo and the seven-member Standing Committee.

The opening ceremony looked like this:

Ten years ago, when he was nominated as the new general secretary of the Communist Party at the 18th Congress, Xi had to be content with the legacy of his predecessors. Since then, he has largely allowed loyalists to join the party’s highest echelons, and power rests with Xi. Only his name is certain in advance, he should put his political allies next to him.

In recent decades, following a party leader’s first five-year term, it has been common for a potential successor to appear on the red carpet in the Great Hall. Xi already broke with this at the previous party congress. None of the then members of the Standing Committee were young enough to take over five years later at the 20th Party Congress and remain in office for another ten years.

Older than 68

According to unwritten rules, only party members who are 67 years of age or younger at the party congress may join. Those aged 68 or older usually resign, although that doesn’t seem like holy house for Xi either. Xi is now 69 years old. Whether there’s a possible successor with the age and experience to take over in five years’ time is still uncertain, but analysts say it’s unlikely.

To learn more about who 69-year-old Xi is, how he became so powerful and what he wants with China, watch this video:

No major course changes are to be expected during this congress, as Xi Jinping’s opening speech attests. More answers won’t come until around the graduation ceremony. The following day, the newly elected Central Committee can vote on two lists of names that have already been brought forward in the first plenary session. In addition to the 25-strong Politburo, there is also the Standing Committee, the heart of power.

Who gets which position?

The results of the secret ballot will be announced the same afternoon, next Sunday. The seven members of this Standing Committee with Xi Jinping are then introduced in the Great Hall of the People. The order of entry behind the curtain makes it clear who gets which position. This completes part one of the two-stage rocket.

Part two of this unusual change in leadership follows in the spring, when delegates gather in the same hall for the annual people’s congress. Having previously removed the term limit for the presidency, formally the presidency of the People’s Republic, from the constitution, Xi now only has to complete his third term there. The number two on the Standing Committee becomes prime minister, while the number three becomes chairman of the People’s Congress, China’s formative parliament.