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A few weeks ago, Xi Jinping, the man who will shortly become the next president of China, disappeared. Perhaps he was getting cold feet. That is not a very likely explanation for Mr Xi’s 13-day vanishing act. Far more likely he was ill or fighting a behind-the-scenes battle over the remaining slots on the Politburo’s all-powerful standing committee. But he would not be human if he had not paused to contemplate the enormity of the task before him. Domestically – not to mention internationally where China’s relations with Japan have strained to snapping point – Mr Xi faces extraordinarily complex policy challenges. How he might tackle them and what room for manoeuvre he has within China’s system of collective leadership will be the subject of next...