China to Initiate Power Handover

China's ruling communists put plans into motion Thursday to handover power to new leaders. After a decade of being in power, China's President Hu Jintao will step down as party chief and be replaced by Xi Jinping next week. 

Hu opened congress in the Great Hall of the People, as symbols of the Communist Party donned the walls, reminding the Chinese people of their revolutionary past. Although Hu made a broad promise of a cleaner government, barely a word was said in two and a half hours about the upcoming transition of power. 

The centerpiece of the ceremonial opening was a speech by Hu, who discussed his legacy in office, not the bargaining over seats in the new leadership which has been a hot topic for debate. 

Hu continued to detail the obstacles China will face in the years to come, highlight the rich-poor gap, imbalanced development between wealthy cities and struggling countryside and the need for environmental conservation. 

"An important thing for him is to make sure that there's no critical, no negative summary judgment of the past 10 years," said Ding Xueliang, a Chinese politics expert at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Still, Ding said, "90 percent of the effort is on putting your people in place."

Public unease has spread throughout China as most people feel that the country is at a turning point. They said that the country is in need of economic growth, leveling of debt and a more accountable, transparent government, if not democracy. 

This public unease has been fueled by scandals surrounding Hu, arguing that he and the rest of the Chinese leaders are more concerned with their public image and wealth than the actual politics. 

As of late, one of China's top leaders, Bo Xilai, was sidelined after his wife murdered a British businessman. Then Hu's top aide left after his son crashed a Ferrari he shouldn't have been able to afford and foreign media reported that relatives of Xi and outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao had traded on their proximity to power to amass vast fortunes. The scandals have particularly weakened Hu, who was supposed to be keeping tabs on his government officials. 

In his speech, Hu refused to bring about political reform, however, even though retired party members, journalists and government analysts have called it an extremely urgent need.