Party's foremost rising stars show different working styles as they meet delegates
Li Keqiang, one of two men tipped to lead the mainland in five years, did not stray from the script for a minute yesterday, while rival Xi Jinping chilled out at a media-packed discussion meeting.
In an interesting political juxtaposition, the Communist Party's two rising stars presided over simultaneous discussions with their delegations in different halls of the Great Hall of People.
The week-long party congress is supposed to endorse one candidate to succeed incumbent party chief Hu Jintao in 2012.
Mr Li, the 54-year-old Liaoning party chief, had been leading the game before Mr Xi, the 52-year-old Shanghai party chief entered the fray very recently. Both showed the same high degree of party loyalty.
Both men expressed enthusiasm for 'scientific development' - Mr Hu's pet project which essentially means a more balanced, environmentally friendly development mode - by peppering their speeches with plenty of references from Mr Hu's keynote speech at the opening of the congress on Monday.