Enviable achievements emboss calling card of high-flying cadre
The favourite subject of Li Yuanchao at the NPC conference was not so much the riches of Jiangsu province but rather the need to share wealth.
But is Mr Li, Jiangsu party secretary, just an opportunist who mimics what leaders in Beijing have said about building a 'harmonious society'?
Not so, it seems. Party insiders said social harmony was Mr Li's pet subject two years ago - long before it became a party slogan.
The 55-year-old Jiangsu native is the envy of many mandarins as he is armed with the most important conditions for climbing the political ladder - relatively young age, a good education, experience and, most importantly, connections and achievement.
For Mr Li, hard work, talent and luck are behind his rise to senior positions. Although he started as a farmer in Dafeng county, Jiangsu province, Mr Li has attended university four times.
His big break came in 1983 when he became secretary of Communist Youth League in Shanghai and a Central Committee member of the league. The league was the power base of President Hu Jintao .