CHINA: President Hu's new role should boost the fight against corruption and control a surging economy, writes Clifford Coonan in Beijing.
Relief, optimism and a distinctly Chinese brand of wry humour greeted the surprise announcement that former leader Mr Jiang Zemin had stepped down as head of the army and completed an orderly handover of control to President Hu Jintao.
While many people, from senior Communist Party officials to political analysts to the people on the street, were surprised by the news, most took it in their stride. In China constant change has become a way of life.
"Jiang Zemin needed to take a rest," said one middle-aged office worker to giggles from the assembled young workers. Other workers on the streets devoured the news in the capital's main newspapers and gave it a definite thumbs up.
Mr Jiang (78), presided over one of the most successful periods of economic growth in Chinese history, but he lacked the common touch and his decision to step down prompted little mourning.
President Hu has had more success at selling himself as a man of the people, tackling issues relevant to them, such as rural poverty and corruption.
The official news agency, Xinhua, reported that the party's ruling body had accepted Mr Jiang's resignation on Sunday during a four-day secret meeting of the ruling elite.
The handover was the first bloodless transfer of power since the Communists seized control in 1949.
Mr Jiang's retirement received widespread media coverage, showing just how much change there has been in the new China.
The popular Beijing Times gave over pages and pages to coverage of the news, with analysis, full texts of the communiqué and lots of detail. Formerly the ordinary people were denied such information on the leadership.
So it is not just western analysts who are asking: "Who is Mr Hu and what is he going to do?" Now that Mr Jiang is gone the Chinese people will be examining, even more closely, what Mr Hu stands for and what he is likely to achieve with his new status.
There is precious little known about the 61-year-old leader, who replaced Mr Jiang as head of the Communist Party in 2003 and as President in 2003.
He has a reputation for being tough on opponents of the party, as witnessed by his crackdown on pro-independence protests in Tibet in 1988-1989, when he was in charge. Nonetheless, he has introduced modest political, media and judicial reforms, aimed at ending corruption and making party cadres more accountable.
"There will likely be no major changes of direction, especially on domestic policy, in the coming year or two. For Mr Hu and the premier, Mr Wen Jiabao, the major thing is to maintain socio-economic stability," said one China watcher.
President Hu's new position should boost efforts to fight corruption and control a surging economy. Although he has talked of promoting "socialist democracy", it would be premature to expect opposition politics or elections in China any time soon.
In a speech before the plenum meeting, Mr Hu rejected western-style democracy. He said it would "lead China into a dead end". Although being head of the army as well as President and Communist party chief strengthens his hand, he remains a weak leader, for the time being at least.
He is still surrounded by rivals in the top echelons of the party, and does not have a reliable majority on the Politburo standing committee.
So how did Mr Hu succeed in getting Mr Jiang to step down with apparently so little bother? One reason seems to be that the Communist party is strictly hierarchical which doesn't work if you have two centres.
The impetus was with Mr Hu, who as President was closer to the centre of power. He appears to have carried out some serious manoeuvring behind the scenes and won over a couple of older generation leaders, as well as some serving generals.
The end of uncertainty over the military post means Mr Hu can now consolidate his position and gradually build a majority ithe Politburo.
There were reports that Mr Jiang stepped down as head of the 2.5-million strong armed forces because of health problems, although the communiqué made no reference to this.
There was also a sense that Mr Jiang's resignation was inevitable because he was getting older, his health was deteriorating and he was becoming an unpredictable and unreliable element.
In his resignation letter Mr Jiang said that he had intended to retire two years ago but was kept on by the Central Committee in view of the complexity of the international situation and the need to build military capability.
Mr Jiang is unlikely to have to slum it in retirement. He is said to own two beautiful residences - one a large house in central Shanghai, the other a dacha-style villa near the newly developed Pudong area.
Mr Jiang Zemin's decision to quit could lead to "a more relaxed political atmosphere" in Hong Kong, said one expert on mainland politics.