Hu Jintao conducted in a fairly orderly and civil manner, which was unprecedented in Communist China's history. This trend is expected to continue and an institutionalized mechanism of power transition is expected to emerge, first perhaps within the CPC. In fact, it has been one of the CPC's stated major goals to create an orderly system of succession and mechanism to prevent informal rule and a cult of personality. The rivalry between Jiang and Hu after Jiang stepped down from his posts was, arguably, an inevitable product of China's tradition of succession. Some analysts argue that although Jiang consolidated power by the
Li Ruihuan behind only Hu Jintao. Thus, many Li supporters assumed that he and Vice President Hu would have been the only two PSC incumbents to have their five-year terms renewed at the 16th congress. Thus, he would have been in place likely to assume the post of chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), a post held by Li Peng prior to the party congress. Some were even expecting that Li Ruihuan would have formed a triumvirate together in the post-16th congress PSC with Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. Many expected that such a triumvirate would have relegated Jiang's "Shanghai clique,"