Journalists have wasted no time digging up background on the new members of the Standing Committee - one has pointed out how Wang Huning views US politics.

Image source, AFP

All eyes are focused on China's new leadership today - but another big story to emerge yesterday was the release of Gui Minhai - a bookseller in Hong Kong and a Swedish citizen, from prison in China.

Mr Gui and four other booksellers based in Hong Kong, who published books critical on China, went missing in late 2015. They later emerged in detention in mainland China, sparking widespread speculation that some of them had been abducted.

The Swedish government says they have been told Mr Gui has been released from prison - however, his daughter says his whereabouts remain unknown. You can read more in our story here.

China watchers have also picked up on the fact that Xi Jinping only gave brief introductions of the new members of the standing committee in his speech. Another sign that power in China is now focused in the President's role?

Unsurprisingly, Xi Jinping's call for "objective journalism" on China has raised a few eyebrows among journalists in China...

Observers have pointed out that China's new cabinet not only doesn't have an heir - it is also stacked with allies of President Xi.

The BBC's Robin Brant has done a useful guide matching the names to the faces in the new leadership team

Here's an interesting perspective from the New York Times' Shanghai bureau chief - that despite cooling ties with Pyongyang, Beijing still has considerable influence.

Beijing-based economist Christopher Balding has posted this Twitter poll on Mr Xi's successor. Don't know about you, but we think the odds-on favourite might just be Mr Zuckerberg's baby (her name is August by the way).

Today's photo op featured a row of men in identical black suits (and identical stiff postures), so the BBC's John Sudworth zoomed in on what really mattered.

Let's not forget the 25-member Politburo, the body just one level down from the Standing Committee. Their line-up has been revealed, and BBC correspondents have noted the unbalanced gender make-up.

All talk around the Chinese political congress continues to dominate discussion and generate huge interest among China's online community of politically-aware netizens. On the popular Sina Weibo micro-blogging site, Chinese social media users are using three, externaldifferent, externalthreads, external to share their views on the latest leadership announcement.Among state Chinese media posts and threads, netizens like Ju Wei, external from the capital Beijing are airing their opinions. "Still the same faces. No changes there. This is as exciting as every time Apple unveils its latest iPhone. Wake me up when something actually happens."

Image source, Sina Weibo

Carrie Gracie
China editor

Meanwhile, reporters from several major news organisations including the BBC, the Financial Times, the Guardian, the Economist and the New York Times were excluded from the event.

Here's more from our China editor Carrie Gracie:

Most of those predicted to get into the Standing Committee were profiled in this BBC piece on the rising stars of the Communist Party. But not these two - Guangdong party chief Hu Chunhua and Chongqing party chief Chen Min'er. Many observers had thought either, or both of them, could have been successors to Mr Xi one day - but that no longer looks like the case.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Carrie Gracie
China editor

The new leaders are all party technocrats in their 60s or late 50s, which breaks the unwritten rule that there should be at least one younger man chosen as a leader in waiting, our China Editor Carrie Gracie reports.

China has suffered many succession struggles and the absence of a next generation leader will trigger speculation over how long Xi Jinping intends to rule, she adds.

These are the new standing committee members - you'll notice that all of them, except for President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, are new to the committee.

It's not going unnoticed that some journalists have been excluded from the press conference.

If you're just catching up, here's our wrap on today's event: No heir anointed as Xi reveals top leadership

The BBC's Robin Brant in Beijing has this to say on the last part of Mr Xi's speech.

Foreign TV coverage of the new lineup is also being censored, as our correspondent Stephen McDonell reports

Mr Xi has just ended his speech urging the press to travel around more and to "report more dimensions of China", quoting a Chinese proverb that "it is better to see once than to hear 100 times".

"We do not need lavish praise from others, however we do welcome objective reporting and constructive suggestion.This is our motto: 'Not angling for compliments, I’d be content to let my integrity fill the universe'," he said, to applause in the room.