Over a period of just 12 hours two of the world’s most powerful institutions, the Roman Catholic Church and the Chinese government, have installed supreme leaders chosen in total secrecy. 世界上两个最有权势的机构，罗马天主教会和中国政府，相隔12小时任命了在完全保密情况下选定的最高领导人。

But while the choice of Pope Francis came as a surprise to most, the appointment of Xi Jinping as China’s president for the next decade was decided more than five years ago and merely consecrated by the country’s ceremonial legislature yesterday. 但是，尽管教皇方济各(Pope Francis)的当选对多数人是个意外，但由习近平在未来10年里担任中国国家主席，却是在5年多前就决定的，只是在昨日由中国仪式性的立法机构走一下程序而已。

In the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, yesterday Mr Xi, the only candidate for president, garnered 2,952 votes of support, three abstentions and one vote cast against him from delegates to the National People’s Congress. 昨日，在北京天安门广场上的人民大会堂里，习近平作为唯一的国家主席候选人，从全国人大与会代表得到2952票赞成，3票弃权和1票反对。

Chinese state media solemnly announced his election by the handpicked parliament but the reaction among many ordinary citizens appeared to range from indifference to cynicism. 中国官方媒体庄严地宣布习近平在本来就是由官方决定人选的全国人大全体会议上当选国家主席，但许多普通人的反应似乎介于无动于衷和怀疑之间。

Many people took to social media groups and China’s Twitter-like Weibo services to mock the ¬procedure. 很多人在社交媒体群组和类似于Twitter的中国微博客网站上嘲讽这个程序。

“Who will be president? I am so full of anticipation. The race will certainly be a dead heat and my heart is beating out of my chest,” wrote one Weibo user under the name “cup of fresh bean brother”. 一名自称“鲜豆杯哥”的微博用户写道：谁将成为国家主席？我是那样的充满期待。这场竞赛肯定激烈无比，我的心都快跳出来了。

Other internet users set up an online election with multiple candidates for president and asked the public to cast their vote. 还有一些网民搞了一场网上选举，列出多名国家主席候选人，邀请公众投票。

The election was blocked by China’s restrictive internet censorship filters and only about 5,000 people had cast their ballot by yesterday afternoon. But by then Ma Ying-jeou, the Taiwanese president, was the frontrunner, with about 20 per cent of the vote. Dissident artist Ai Weiwei was second, with imprisoned writer, political activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo a close third. 这场选举被中国什么都要管的互联网审查机构屏蔽，截至昨日下午只有大约5000人投了票。但到了那时，台湾总统马英九(Ma Ying-jeou)处于领先地位，赢得大约20%选票。异见人士、艺术家艾未未位列第二，而仍在服刑的作家、政治活跃人士、诺贝尔和平奖得主刘晓波紧随其后，位列第三。

The self-ruled island of Taiwan introduced electoral democracy in the early 1990s but Beijing claims the territory as its own and has vowed to take it by force if it resists reunification indefinitely. 自治的台湾岛在上世纪90年代初开启选举民主，但北京方面宣称该岛是其领土，并誓言在台湾无限期拒绝统一的情况下付诸武力。

Well-educated internet and Weibo users are hardly a representative sample in China and tend to be a far more liberal and democratic-minded group than the average citizen. 受过良好教育的网民和微博用户算不上是中国很有代表性的群体，与一般人相比，这些人往往具有更强烈的自由和民主意识。

But the wave of online cynicism underlines a growing problem for the ruling Communist party in its efforts to shore up legitimacy among the demanding urban middle class. 但网上出现的这波狐疑情绪，突显了共产党在要求较高的城市中产阶层中努力增强执政合法性方面所面临的一个越来越大的问题。

“Things like the terrible air in Beijing and thousands of dead pigs floating in the river in Shanghai, these problems are black marks on the authorities’ governance records,” said Zhang Jian, associate professor at Peking University’s school of government, referring to recent topics that have caused an uproar in China. “The Communist party has to put up a desperate fight to seek political legitimacy wherever they can get it.” “北京空气恶劣，上海的江上出现数以千计死猪，这些问题都是当局管治记录上的污点，”北京大学政府管理学院副教授张健在谈到近期在中国引起轰动的话题时表示。“共产党必须在一切可能的地方竭力寻求执政合法性。”

He pointed to reports in state media in recent days claiming that direct democratic elections have been held in 98 per cent of Chinese villages and said they were an example of how the party is anxious to show it enjoys popular support and legitimacy. 他指出，官方媒体近日报道称，中国98%的村子已举行直接民主选举。他说，这是一个例子，说明党如何急于显示自己得到人民的支持，拥有合法性。

Candidates in village elections are subject to final approval from the party and claims of corruption and nepotism in village elections are common. 乡村选举的候选人需要得到党的最终批准，有关乡村选举存在腐败和裙带主义行为的指控相当常见。

The process by which Mr Xi was selected to lead China is a secret to all but a tiny handful of leaders in the party’s hierarchy, who chose him in a closed meeting five years ago. 挑选习近平领导中国的过程，除了党内高层的极少数领导人（他们在5年前的一个闭门会议上选中了他）外，对其他人都是一个秘密。

“I would guess maybe 30 to 40 people were directly involved in the decision to select Xi Jinping as the next leader of China,” said David Zweig, professor of social science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “When the party talks about democracy they don’t mean it in the sense of one person one vote; they mean there was an open discussion among the leadership.” “要我猜的话，可能有30至40人直接参与了选定习近平出任中国下一位领导人的决策，”香港科技大学(Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)社会学教授崔大伟(David Zweig)表示。“当党谈论民主时，他们的意思并不是一人一票；他们是指在领导层内部有一场公开讨论。”

In November Mr Xi was handed the title of Communist party general secretary and chairman of China’s central military commission by Hu Jintao, the outgoing president. In practice, those two roles are far more powerful and important than the mantle of president that Mr Xi assumed yesterday. 去年11月，习近平从即将离任的国家主席胡锦涛那里接任中共中央总书记和中央军委主席。实际上，这两个职务比习近平昨日出任的国家主席更有实权，也更加重要。

Supporters of the Chinese system argue that the party, unlike most authoritarian regimes or indeed the Catholic Church, has managed to introduce a system of collective leadership and a tradition of term limits and forced retirement for leaders. 中国体制的支持者提出，与多数威权政权或者天主教会不同，中共成功地实行了集体领导制度，还建立了任期限制和强制领导人退休的传统。

Although there is nothing in China’s national or party constitution regarding term limits, Mr Xi is expected to emulate his predecessor Mr Hu and serve two five-year terms before handing on to a new generation of leaders. 虽然中国宪法和中共党章都没有规定任期限制，但预计习近平将像前任胡锦涛一样，完成两个5年任期，然后向新一代领导人交棒。