When Xi Jinping ascended the stage in the Great Hall of the People in March, officially the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, the country's future seemed his to shape.
Just months earlier, he had been re-appointed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, the country's most powerful position. Now he had begun a second term as the nation's president and secured the scrapping of term limits on the post -- effectively allowing him to rule for life. Just two members of the National People's Congress voted against the change, out of 2,980. Nine months later however, storm clouds are gathering.
