The 20th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) National Congress begins tomorrow in Beijing with 2,296 delegates set to attend.
Coming only twice every decade, the week-long congress is considered the most significant event on China's political calendar.
But what exactly happens there and why is this one in particular so important?
What is the CCP National Congress?
The Chinese Communist Party, which has ruled China for the past 73 years, is the largest political party in the world with more than 90 million members.
While technically they are separate, in practice the party is bigger than the central government and controls almost every aspect of the country and its people.
Every five years, delegates from around the country gather at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for the National Congress to nominally select the party's leadership team, consider amendments to its constitution and consult on its agenda for the coming term.
The CCP holds two-thirds of the seats in the National People's Congress — which meets annually and is the highest organ of state power — so this agenda ultimately sets the direction for the entire country.
Most importantly, it's during the National Congress that it's revealed who will lead the party as general secretary for the coming five-year term.
Why is this year's National Congress so important?
At this year's National Congress, President Xi Jinping is standing for his third term as general secretary.
In 2018, Mr Xi was able to have abolished the presidential two-term limit written into China's constitution, paving the way for him to continue on as president of China for life.
If he's successful, he will be practically guaranteed a third term as president at next year's National People's Congress.
A third term would make him the longest-serving leader in the country's modern history since Chairman Mao Zedong, the founding supreme leader of the People's Republic.
Jan Wong, a former Beijing correspondent for the Globe and Mail and author of multiple books on China, said most observers agreed that it was a fait accompli that Mr Xi would get a third term.
"I don't think there's anyone who thinks there's a possibility that he will step down," she said.
However, she said that due to the nature of China's political system, it would be difficult to know even if there was anyone within the party who might be able to challenge Mr Xi.
"You never see anything [behind the scenes] in a dictatorship, in a totalitarian system," Wong said.
"You never know if there is any dissent."
Deng Yuwen, a former editor of a Communist Party newspaper who now lives in the US, told the ABC that if Mr Xi failed his political life would come to an end but, if he succeeded, there would be no end in sight.
"As Xi is very powerful himself, his views and policies will be closely linked with whether China is going to adopt a peaceful rise mode or remain in a very tense relationship with the outside world," he said.
'A super-elite cabinet'
While Mr Xi's bid for another term is the most important outcome from the National Congress, people are also closely watching who will form the politburo's new standing committee.
The delegates to the congress nominally get to select members of the politburo from a shortlist.
While the politburo is like the party's cabinet, the standing committee — which currently has seven members — is the very inner circle.
After the general secretary, it is the key decision-making body for China's 1.4 billion people.
The members always come from the political elite and usually also serve top roles in China's central government.
Currently, both Mr Xi and Premier Li Keqiang are standing committee members.
"The standing committee of that politburo is considered like a super elite cabinet," said Wong.
"They're in charge of all the important portfolios like the military, the provinces, and the economy, and they run everything."
Who will be on the new CCP standing committee?
While the CCP has not revealed who will be on the standing committee, Wong said the membership would have been decided well in advance.
What people would see during the congress was just "choreography", she said.
"It's like a play. Everything will be determined in advance."
However, Wong said age was one of the key clues as to who might be in or out.
One of the unwritten rules of the party's secretive election process is that members must be younger than 67 at the start of the new term.
Two current members, Li Zhanshu and Han Zheng, have already exceeded the age limit this year.
Anyone approaching that age would only be able to stand on the committee for a single term, and so would be less likely to challenge Mr Xi, who is already 69.
"If the seven people are all fairly old, what that tells us is Xi Jinping doesn't want any rivals," Wong said.
"If they're all about his age, then they're not going to threaten him."
Ms Wong said it was unclear if Mr Xi had a successor in mind.
"If there is a younger person in their 50s, or maybe early 60s, that person could be the next successor," she said.
