Li Tieying is the very model of what China's paramount ruler Deng Xiaoping, 80, calls a "third echelon" party leader: young, educated and experienced. Last week Li, 48, became the youngest of nine up-and-coming officials named to head key government agencies. The average age of the new appointees is below 55, and all of them have the equivalent of university degrees as well as other professional qualifications. That meets Deng's criteria for bringing up a new third echelon of party leaders in their 40s and 50s. Deng represents the first echelon, while Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, 69, is in the...
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