BEIJING -- Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, appointed leader of China's Communist Party today, is known for being smart, cautious and, perhaps most of all, able to keep his personality and views on politics a mystery to outsiders.

Recommended a decade ago by then-supreme leader Deng Xiaoping as heir apparent to President Jiang Zemin, Hu has spent time building alliances and gaining experience while drawing little attention. Now Hu has been given the country's most powerful position, making him a certain bet to replace Jiang Zemin as president next year.

Despite the near-certainty of observers that the Communist Party congress would name him to replace Jiang as secretary-general, Hu gave no hint he was expecting to lead China's next generation.

As secretary-general of the congress, Hu didn't utter a public word before the meeting ended Thursday. Instead, he deferred to the 76-year-old Jiang and another party heavyweight, Li Peng -- both of whom are expected to retire after being left off the new party Central Committee announced Thursday.

Hu, 59, always appears poised and well-prepared in his brief appearances. He speaks without notes, sticking to safe topics, and is said to possess a photographic memory. On overseas visits, he leaves pleasant but vague impressions.

A native of the eastern farming province of Anhui, Hu is married and believed to have at least one son and a daughter.

He trained as a hydroelectric engineer at prestigious Tsinghua University and worked for a time constructing power stations on the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

In 1982, at age 39, Hu became the youngest member of the party's governing Central Committee before being sent to bleak, inland Guizhou province as party secretary.

Some have suggested that his experience in the impoverished area might make him more inclined to devote resources to China's poor west than have his predecessors, who developed the booming cities on the east coast.

Hu served as party secretary of Tibet for four years. He was there in 1988 during riots against Chinese rule. He imposed martial law, though diplomats and foreign scholars say it's impossible to read much into that, because he probably was carrying out orders from Beijing.

His official biography plays down Tibet. It notes that Hu was the only party chief there "with a civilian background," and says he contributed to "unity, stability and development" while serving in the post.

In 1992, Hu was elevated to the party's Politburo and at about the same time was picked by Deng to succeed Jiang. He was made vice president in 1998 and has also been Jiang's deputy on powerful commissions that control China's army.

Still, he was little known even in China until U.S. bombs destroyed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999. Three Chinese reporters were killed, setting off furious anti-American protests in Beijing and elsewhere in China.

As a mob besieged the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, Hu appeared on national television praising the protesters for expressing "the Chinese people's strong indignation" and patriotism.

While little is known about his personal tastes or habits, Hu has displayed key traits for success in Chinese politics: loyalty, discretion and conformity. A saying attributed to Hu in his biography reads, success in life "requires resolve, attention to concrete matters and courage in making decisions."

The government has been increasingly presenting Hu to the outside world as its next leader, though no one will confirm that officially. He toured Europe last year and visited the United States this year, meeting with President Bush.

Hu introduced Bush at Tsinghua University in Beijing this year with a conciliatory, if rather bland, tone. China and the United States, he said, "bear important responsibilities and have extensive common interests."

A U.N. official who traveled to China this fall with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Hu repeated to Annan almost verbatim the comments Jiang had made the day before.

"He was very, very cautious, very good, but very conservative," said the official, who asked not to be identified further.

party delegate and government economic planner. "But taking the overall situation into consideration, we made the decision to make a transition, and I'm sure the next leaders will take up the tasks with vigor."