Even after he steps down as party chief, Hu's influence will linger. His allies and protégés run provinces and key bureaucracies and are in line for promotions.
Hu may also stay on as head of the party commission that oversees the politically influential military, just as his predecessor did for two years after Hu came to power.
Some hoped that Hu would bring political change when he took over. Hu spent the formative years of his career either in poor inland provinces or running the Communist Youth League.
In the years before taking power, he oversaw party affairs. During his tenure, party think tanks were analyzing why the Soviet Union collapsed and tinkering with trial projects to bring more efficient and responsive government to citizens.
"Link up with the world" was a popular official slogan when Hu took power, capturing China's aspirations to join the world community.
Hu's handling of his first crisis, the SARS pneumonia epidemic that officials first tried to cover up, seemed to augur tolerance for whistle-blowers, a freer media and greater accountability.
Instead, Hu soon tacked away from opening up the political system and relaxing the hold on society.
A signal event seemed to be the democratic revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia. China saw the hand of the U.S. government and foreign civil society groups at work, funneling money to local activists to subvert authoritarian governments.
Police began targeting activists, even those calling for peaceful, evolutionary change.
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