In March 2013, Xi Jinping will officially become one of the most powerful men on the planet, when he takes over the Chinese President's post from Hu Jintao.

Xi, who has worked as an engineer and a farmer, will become the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China and its 1.3 billion people.

We present some candid images of the President-in-waiting.

A portrait of incoming Chinese leader Xi Jinping by Chinese painter Luo Jianhui is displayed in his studio in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

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Xi Jinping walks among Vietnamese women in traditional ao dai dresses waving national flags of Vietnam and China, while attending the 12th Vietnam-China Youth Friendship Meeting as part of his visit to Vietnam, at the International Convention Centre in Hanoi.

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Xi Jinping talks with area residents in the home of Roger and Sarah Lande in Muscatine, Iowa. Xi first visited the city in 1985. 

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Former US President Jimmy Carter sits with Xi Jinping as they watch a table tennis game between Chinese and US athletes during the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Ping Pong Diplomacy in Beijing.

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Xi Jinping waits for the President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.   

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Russia's then President Dmitry Medvedev and Xi Jinping attend a ceremony at the Shanghai World Expo site on Russian Pavilion Day in Shanghai.

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Xi Jinping drinks a glass of red wine as he toasts a dinner, also attended by former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, to mark the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in Beijing.

China and the United States should work together more closely on defusing regional disputes and ensure that disputes between them do not roil ties, Jinping said.

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Xi Jinping kicks a football during a visit to Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.

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US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Xi Jinping in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez welcomes Xi Jinping at Miraflores Palace in Caracas. 

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Xi Jinping and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel stand together for photos after shaking hands during their meeting at Chinese Communist Party's Central Party School in Beijing.

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Students watch United States Vice President Joe Biden talk during a visit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to a classroom where students are learning Mandarin at the International Studies Learning Centre in Los Angeles, California.

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Xi Jinping listens to the national anthem during a welcoming ceremony for South Africa's Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

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Xi Jinping poses with dairy farmers James Lynch and his wife Maura, after giving Panda dolls to their children Ronan, 8 months, Olive, 3, and James, 5, on the second day of a three day visit to Ireland, at Six Mile Bridge, County Clare.

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He Guoqiang (front row, second left) and top political advisor Jia Qinglin (front row, rightR) at the start of the opening ceremony of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

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