Mainland leaders have chosen materials scientist Dr Bai Chunli to be the new president and party secretary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, instead of Dr Jiang Mianheng, the eldest son of former party general secretary Jiang Zemin .
The decision was announced by State Councillor Liu Yandong at the academy's headquarters on February 28. The next day Science magazine broke the news on its website. Now almost everyone in the scientific community knows about it. But the Communist Party's propaganda machine had withheld the news, prompting speculation.
A senior academy source said that Bai's appointment still needed formal endorsement from the State Council, which should happen soon.
According to Science, Bai has been heir-apparent since he was named the academy's executive vice-president in 2004. When president and party secretary Lu Yongxiang's second term came to an end in 2008, Bai was ready to step in.
But he didn't, and Lu, already 66, advanced to a surprising third term.
There was a rumour that Jiang Mianheng, the academy's second-vice-president since 1999, was behind Lu's decision.
Using the influence of his father, it said, Jiang Mianheng wanted to jump the queue to head the mainland's most prominent scientific institute. But that met strong resistance from some senior scientists, who doubted whether he was qualified for the job.