How much can we really understand about Chinese politics from the outside, and how much has become genuinely unknowable? A senior general, who is a close confidant of Xi Jinping; a family friend for whom retirement norms were reportedly bent. Present one day, gone the next, with no explanation that outsiders can independently verify. That is the puzzle at the heart of China-watching today. Some things remain remarkably legible: the direction of policy, the priorities of the l