The Jingxi Hotel will contain all the intrigue as usual.
From October 20th to 23rd,
some 370 of the Communist Party's top officials will congregate in Beijing to map out the country's economic course to 2030.
The five-year plan they eventually release in March will be the 15th
since the party gained power in 1949.
Titanic in size as befits the world's second largest economy,
it will touch on everything from advanced manufacturing to green development and beyond.
Xi Jinping, China's president, is helping to shape it himself.
The big wigs meet in tricky circumstances.
China's GDP grew by 5.3% year on year over the first half of 2025,
helped by manufacturing investment and resilient exports.
But consumption is weak.
Many Chinese tend to save and they have become more cautious amid an uncertain job market and a savage property downturn.
Weak domestic demand is causing deflation.
Consumer prices fell by 0.4% in August from the same period a year before.
It is also adding to trade tensions.
China produces some 30% of the world's manufactured goods,
but accounts for just 18% of global consumption.
A protectionist backlash is building in other countries,
and an uneasy truce in the trade war depends upon the mood of Donald Trump, America's president.