The Sars crisis and political ambitions aside, Huang Huahua and Zhang Dejiang are getting on with the job of driving economic growth in the southern province
A year after taking office, the report card of Guangdong's new leadership is apparently good, with the economy heading for 13 per cent growth after making a remarkable rebound from the Sars outbreak.
Huang Huahua took over as provincial governor and Zhang Dejiang as Communist Party secretary just as the Sars virus was emerging in cities surrounding Guangzhou. The untested pair were thrown into a crisis they initially managed by clamping down on information.
Although critics accused the new leaders of mishandling the outbreak, which was allowed to spread worldwide, they won praise from the World Health Organisation and the central government for controlling the spread of the virus locally and for the treatment regime developed.
President Hu Jintao fired health minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong, but spared Zhang Dejiang, a 57-year-old North Korea-trained economist who has been given credit for the rapid development of the private economy in Zhejiang, where he was formerly party chief.
There was speculation that Zhang Dejiang - who was seen as being aligned with Jiang Zemin and as one of the more promising fifth generation leaders - kept his job because he switched allegiance to Mr Hu and because, as a party central committee member, he was too strong to be purged.