Hu Jintao, China’s president, delivered the keynote speech for the opening of the 18th Party Congress in Beijing on Thursday morning, in which he laid out his vision of the policies that should guide the world’s second-largest economy.

Here’s a rundown of 8 key themes from his address likely to shape the priorities for China’s next rulers, who will be unveiled next week. Read more

China’s 18th Party Congress kicked off with the national anthem—and a moment of mourning for the “revolutionaries” who have passed away, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping.

But the revolutionary star of the show was clearly Jiang Zemin, who led China during the rapid growth of the 1990s, and who was given the prime seating spot at the Congress. Read more