In China, the month of March is marked by the opening of the nation's two monumental political sessions—the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) respectively. The annual sessions aim to deliberate and adopt important decisions regarding issues of national concern. The NPC is the country's supreme legislative organ, while the CPPCC is the top political advisory body.

This year's two sessions have attracted even wider attention than usual, as China's top state and government leadership change was discussed and passed at the sessions—including the president, premier, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, as well as chairman of the CPPCC National Committee. Hence, the just-concluded sessions have been hailed as the nation's most significant meetings of the decade, second perhaps only to the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress held last November, when Xi Jinping became general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

At this year's NPC meeting, Xi was elected China's new president and chairman of the nation's Central Military Commission (CMC). Since the early 1990s, the CPC general secretaries have concurrently held the positions of president and CMC chairman, which is believed to have enabled them to handle the Party, state and military affairs more efficiently. As expected, Xi's three other colleagues on the seven-member Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang and Yu Zhengsheng, respectively became Chinese premier and chairmen of the NPC and the CPPCC at the two sessions.

As the four new top leaders shook hands with their predecessors upon their election or appointment, the smooth transition of China's state power reached completion. The ambitious yet formidable missions of building a stronger and better-off country were also formally handed over to this new and younger generation of Chinese leaders. The nation's people eagerly expect this historic handover to lead China to march forward toward an even brighter future.