Xi Jinping, Chinese 'princeling' who is close to top job

Xi Jinping, the son of a communist revolutionary hero with a celebrity wife, looks set to become the next leader of rising superpower China after he was appointed to a key military commission.

Xi, 57, was promoted on Monday to vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission -- a position that confirms him as the clear front-runner to succeed current President Hu Jintao in 2013.

Widely expected to be named to the commission in 2009, Xi's profile has been boosted over the past year with state media giving in depth coverage of his meetings with visiting dignitaries and his trips abroad.

Appointed vice president of China in 2008, Xi has an impeccable communist pedigree that makes him one of a group of elite politicians known as "princelings."

China's princelings are those who can thank their family lineage for at least part of their success, and Xi's father was Xi Zhongxun, a communist guerrilla who fought alongside revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Xi's father later fell victim to one of Mao's infamous political purges and spent 16 years in jail, before rising again under the new leadership of Deng Xiaoping to hold positions of power.

Xi's early years were also marked by some hardship. Like so many other Chinese youths, he was ordered to the countryside in the late 1960s during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution.

The native of northern Shaanxi province began his steady rise up the communist ladder shortly after, joining the party in 1974 a year before studying at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University.

Over the next 30 years he gained recognition as an experienced manager, culminating in the leadership of two key economic provinces, Fujian and Zhejiang, before moving to Shanghai's top spot.

In the fractious and secretive world of Chinese politics observers find it hard to pin down Xi's political allegiances, and his political views have been kept a closely-guarded secret.

Some say he is most closely aligned to former president Jiang Zemin and his faction known as the "Shanghai gang".

Others say his background and central government experience as a secretary for former vice premier and defence minister Geng Biao in the late 1970s made him acceptable to current President Hu Jintao.

However the ordinary person on the street in China may know the portly figure best for his long-time marriage to Peng Liyuan, a famous singer who is also an officer in the nation's military.