CHINA: Political machinations and high-level intrigue will form the backdrop to a closed-door meeting of elite cadres in China's Communist Party when they gather this weekend for their annual assembly.
The event is traditionally a routine four-day talking shop on policy and party housekeeping, but this sixth plenum promises to be the most politically charged for many a year.
Chaired by President Hu Jintao, who is also party chief and head of the army, the meeting is expected to push through a key document relating to his efforts to "build a harmonious society" aimed at bringing more social and economic equity - key issues in China where the wealth gap between rich and poor continues to widen.
But the real action at this year's gathering of China's top communists - regarded by the party elite as the top political event of the year - will be going on behind the scenes.
The assembly takes place barely two weeks after the surprise sacking of high-profile Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu as part of a wide-scale corruption investigation.
The inquiry has been widely read as the public face of a broader political campaign to change the direction of party policy and help Mr Hu cement his hold on the world's most populous nation. His efforts to change the top leadership in the party are likely to figure high on the agenda.
The corruption investigation has claimed its biggest scalp so far in Mr Chen but has also rattled the cages in the provinces, places like Tianjin, Fujian and Hunan.
The investigation is central to government efforts to crack down on graft in China, and is the biggest since China began to open up in 1979.
Chinese people regularly say corruption in public life is the most offensive by-product of economic growth, and graft by public officials is particularly offensive to people who have no public form of redress in the absence of democratic elections.
Rumours have swirled this week about what is happening in Zhongnanhai, the Chinese leadership compound in Beijing.
Some reports claim other leading members of the politburo - allies of Mr Hu's predecessor Jiang Zemin - may yet be forced to resign over corruption allegations, though as they are near retirement, this seems unlikely.
The weekend's meeting will prove central to Mr Hu's efforts to consolidate his position.
Any leader taking over the reins in China faces a laborious process of introducing their own supporters into key positions on the 24-member politburo or the country's cabinet, called the State Council: the previous incumbent has filled all the plum positions with his own lieutenants.
In Mr Hu's case, many of the top cadres are, inevitably, former colleagues of Mr Jiang.
On Monday the powerful 24-member politburo stripped Mr Chen, a close ally of Mr Jiang, of his post for what appears to be abuse of around one-third of a €1 billion pension fund.
It was the highest-level sacking of a government official since 1995.
The Communist Party in China has 70 million members, its influence is felt in every area of life, and it has ruled with an iron fist since the 1949 revolution.
The last big shake-up in the party came when Deng Xiaoping, credited as the architect of China's policy of opening up, purged Zhao Ziyang shortly after the bloody crackdown on opposition protests in Beijing in 1989.
The plenum is expected to vote on whether to formally strip Mr Chen of his politburo status and possibly even kick him out of the party.
"We will investigate thoroughly and severely punish any party member who violates party discipline, no matter how high or how low his position," Gan Yisheng, deputy head of the party's disciplinary commission said this week.
As well as approving a second term for Mr Hu, the assembly is expected to agree on a raft of top-level political appointments.
Around 400 senior party members are expected to attend the meeting.
The investigation has succeeded in weakening the Shanghai gang of leaders which built up around Mr Jiang.
If the plenum goes his way, it will pave the way for Mr Hu to further consolidate his position at next year's party congress by introducing his own trusted colleagues.