What Hong Kong can expect from Li Yuanchao, likely next Beijing link-man

Three decades ago, Li Yuanchao seemed destined for a life in the classroom, not the intrigue-filled halls of Zhongnanhai.

Li, from Jiangsu, was among the first students to enter the prestigeous Fudan University after the social upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. The university, under the leadership of the famous "first geometer of the Orient", Su Buqing, was developing into the cradle of the mainland's burgeoning mathematics community.

Like most students in his classes, Li seemed wholly devoted to his studies and showed little interest in politics. He had taught secondary school mathematics before entering university, and many expected him to have a long career in teaching after his studies were complete.

One former classmate, Wu Zongmin, who is now a mathematics professor at Fudan, told the Southern Metropolis Weekly: "His only prospect in life was to learn mathematics and continue his career as a secondary school teacher after graduation."

Those who know Li say his humble, flexible and easy-going manner was already well established during that modest period of his life. Analysts believe such characteristics will serve him well if Li, as widely expected, is tipped to become vice-president in charge of Hong Kong and Macau affairs.

Friends, classmates and colleagues describe him as a reform-minded leader open to new ideas and initiatives, provided they meet a careful cost-benefit analysis. That could possibly include controversial political reform proposals on the mainland and in Hong Kong.