In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, Shi Chunyang reminisces about his friendship with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping who spent his youth learning peasant virtues at the Liangjiahe village in northwestern China's Shaanxi province. Xi, 59 and the country's vice president is expected to take over as head of the ruling party in November, 2012, before becoming president in 2013 of an increasingly assertive China. The Liangjiahe years are among scant details known about Xi's life and personality partly because he himself chronicled them as a key formative experience.  (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)