Video: China's leader-in-waiting resurfaces after two week absence When he finally reappeared, it was as if he had never been away at all. At 9.30am on a bright Saturday in Beijing, precisely two weeks since his last public appearance, the black motorcade of China's president-in-waiting swept into the forecourt of the country's Agricultural University. As Xi Jinping, 59, strode out, looking healthy with his jet-black hair swept back into the pompadour favoured by Chinese leaders, and wearing a white shirt buttoned to the collar and a zippered jacket, a photographer from Xinhua, the state news agency, was on hand. The pictures were quickly released to the media, together with a bulletin in English confirming that Mr Xi was alive and well - but, true to its form as one of the world's most opaque organisations, the Communist party offered no explanation for Mr Xi's mysterious absence from view over the previous fortnight, just weeks before he is due to be unveiled as China's next paramount leader.