With 68-year-old Zeng Qinghong chosen on Sunday as secretary-general of the upcoming 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the list of secretaries-general has caught much attention.

More than 2,200 Party delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People Sunday afternoon for a preparatory meeting. They chose Zeng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 16th CPC Central Committee, as secretary-general of the congress.

They also decided a 237-member group to oversee the 17th Party congress opening on Monday.

The group, called the Presidium, then selected four senior Party leaders as deputy secretaries-general of the five-yearly congress, which is scheduled to elect a new central committee that will decide CPC's new leadership lineup for the coming few years.

Zeng Qinghong is also member of the Secretariat of the 16th CPC Central Committee and president of the Central Party School.

The four deputy secretaries-general selected by the Presidium are Liu Yunshan, Zhou Yongkang, He Guoqiang and Wang Gang.

Liu Yunshan, Zhou Yongkang and He Guoqiang are all members of the Political Bureau and members of the Secretariat of the 16th CPC Central Committee. Wang Gang is an alternate member of the Political Bureau and member of the Secretariat.

The CPC Constitution rules that the political bureau and its standing committee exercise the power of the CPC Central Committee when the central committee is not in session. The secretariat is the executive body of the political bureau and its standing committee.

The 17th CPC National Congress will open at 9:00 AM Monday, and will last for seven days till next Sunday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2007)