The date is set, now the guessing game is about the players

Last week, the mainland leadership finally ended months of speculation over the opening date of the Communist Party's 17th congress, settling on October 15. Because it said preparations went smoothly, many overseas media and analysts have taken this as a signal that consensus has been reached over the leadership which will emerge at the end of the congress to lead the country until 2012.

This has, in turn, spawned another round of intense speculation over the new lineup, including the members of the Politburo and, more importantly, the Politburo Standing Committee - the party's highest decision-making body.

But the word from the corridors of power in Beijing is that the new lineup has yet to be finalised, that jockeying for power is still in full swing and will remain so until the party leadership holds one final plenary session of the Central Committee before the congress on October 9.

The speculation has focused on whether Standing Committee membership will be cut to seven from nine and which officials are likely to become new committee members.

Analysts have argued that if the number is reduced to seven, it could be seen as a victory for President Hu Jintao .

At the 16th congress, held in 2002, the Standing Committee was expanded from seven to nine in what was widely seen as a move by former president Jiang Zemin to install more allies on the committee before he stepped down as the party's general secretary to make way for Mr Hu.