FACTBOX-China's 17th Communist Party Congress

(Reuters) - China's Communist Party has opened its 17th Congress. For stories on the Congress click on. Here are some key facts:

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AGENDA

-- The five-yearly Congress elects more than 350 full and alternate members of the elite Central Committee in a session lasting about one week, drawing from a pre-selected pool of candidates only slightly larger than the number of seats.

-- The new Central Committee's first session the day after the Congress ends then selects some two dozen members of the decision-making Politburo, again drawing from a list of candidates already selected by the party's leadership over months of political jockeying. This year for the first time the number of candidates may be greater than the available seats.

-- The new Politburo Standing Committee, the Party's top echelon of power which currently has eight members, will be unveiled when they meet the press after the one-day session ends.

-- Hu Jintao is set to win a second five-year term as Party general secretary. The key test for Hu, who is also state president and military chief, will be how many allies he can promote to the Standing Committee and the Politburo and whether he can name an heir apparent amid intense factional jockeying.

POLICIES

-- Hu is giving a keynote report to the opening session of the Congress, appraising the Party's work over the past five years and mapping out policy initiatives for the next five years.