For up-and-coming leaders, a Communist Youth League background is surely the biggest political asset, followed by a princeling pedigree, youth and a good education and track record.
Rising political star Li Yuanchao , the 57-year-old party boss of affluent Jiangsu province , meets all criteria.
According to internal party records, Mr Li was born into an old revolutionary family. His father, Li Gancheng , joined the Youth League in 1929 and the Red Army the following year. Appointed vice-mayor of Shanghai in 1962, he was purged during the Cultural Revolution. Before he died in 1993, Li was the vice-chairman of Shanghai's top political advisory body, the municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Li Yuanchao attended Fudan University, Peking University and the Central Party School, earning bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.
His big break came in 1983 when he became secretary of the youth league in Shanghai and a member of its central committee. He swiftly became a member of the Communist Party Central Committee.
If anything, Mr Li could do with more achievements - easier said than done in a province that is already one of the nation's most affluent. Jiangsu tops all but Guangdong in terms of economic growth, per capita income, foreign direct investment and trade and since he became the province's party boss in 2002, annual incomes have risen, hitting US$3,500 last year compared with US$2,000 in 2003.
But it is not so much wealth as the implementation of Hu Jintao's 'scientific concept of development' that is the key to success, and Mr Li's green projects and efforts to reduce the wealth gap are bearing fruit. He promoted the idea of fostering social harmony by narrowing the gap between the province's south and north long before it became a party slogan.