The once-in-a-decade leadership change, scheduled for this autumn, should have been a perfect opportunity for the Communist Party to boost its legitimacy and international image by detailing its achievements and creating a 'feel-good' atmosphere.
Indeed, Xinhua has begun releasing long news features hailing the 10-year reign by President Hu Jintao as a 'golden decade', which saw the mainland economy become the second largest in the world. It is no coincidence that the central government announced on Friday that it would launch three astronauts into space perhaps later this week and the crew could include the nation's first female space traveller.
But right from the start, the feel-good campaign has been seriously marred by a slew of bad news over the past few months, including rising concerns over falling economic output, a major political scandal, diplomatic crises, and human rights abuses - all of which has heightened concerns about the country's political and economic stability and triggered international outcries over the country's lack of rule of law as well as denting its international image.
Since March, the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai, once a political rising star, and his wife's implication in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, has punctured the facade of political unity at the very top of the party leadership. The brutal treatment of Chen Guangcheng , a blind activist, forced him to flee to the American embassy in Beijing and triggered a diplomatic tussle with Washington before Chen was allowed to leave for the United States.
Now in Hong Kong, the popular anger over the suspicious death of Li Wangyang, one of the longest serving political prisoners, has threatened to overshadow an elaborate ceremony to mark the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to mainland rule, and a change of the city's government.
This is hardly what the mainland leaders had in mind for this politically symbolic year but they have nobody but themselves to blame. They can still make amends, at least in the case of Li. Judging from the comprehensive Hong Kong media reports, the circumstances surrounding Li's death last Wednesday morning are highly suspicious. In a public statement, for the first time, authorities in the city of Shaoyang, yesterday insisted that he committed suicide but media reports quoted Li's friends as saying that the authorities carried out an autopsy on his body and quickly followed with the cremation, apparently without the consent of Li's family members. Other reports suggested that the authorities had restricted the movements of Li's family members and friends and cut off their telephone access to journalists.