Li Keqiang, China’s former premier who unexpectedly passed away this week at the age of 68, first entered elite politics at the young age of 28 in late 1983, when he was elected as an alternate secretary of the Communist Youth League. Engaging in national politics in an era of institutionalization, Li benefited from new rules introduced to foster regulated leadership turnovers to rise up the Chinese Communist Party ranks. To the last, he played by those rules that had made his career.