Paramount leader since 2012 who abolished the presidential term limit
Born in Beijing in 1953, the son of the revolutionary veteran Xi Zhongxun, he was sent down to the village of Liangjiahe in Shaanxi in 1969 after his father was purged, and after several rejected applications joined the party in 1974 as village secretary. After Tsinghua University he worked in Hebei, Fujian and Zhejiang, becoming governor of Fujian in 1999, party secretary of Zhejiang in 2002 and of Shanghai in 2007, the year he joined the Politburo Standing Committee. As general secretary from 2012 and president from 2013 he has pursued a sweeping anti-corruption campaign, army restructuring, the Belt and Road Initiative and tighter state control of the economy and society, with expanded censorship and surveillance. In 2018 he removed the presidential term limit from the constitution, and in 2023 became the first Chinese president to serve a third term.
Activities and affiliations
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1974–
Political and party leadership
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2012–
Communist Party of ChinaGeneral Secretary of the CCP Central CommitteeHeads of state, government and party of ChinaMain
Political and party leadership -
2013–
People’s Republic of China state institutionsPresident of the People's Republic of ChinaHeads of state, government and party of China
Political and party leadership
Career Timeline
- 1969Sent down to Liangjiahe, Yanchuan County, Shaanxi
- 1974.01Joined the CCP; party branch secretary of Liangjiahe
- 1975–1979Chemical engineering at Tsinghua University
- 1979Secretary in the General Offices of the State Council and the Central Military Commission
- 1982Deputy secretary, then secretary of the Zhengding County party committee, Hebei
- 1985Began work in Fujian
- 1999–2002Governor of Fujian
- 2002–2007Party Secretary of Zhejiang
- 2007Party Secretary of Shanghai
- 2007.10Member of the Politburo Standing Committee and of the Central Secretariat
- 2008–2013Vice-President of the PRC
- 2010Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission
- 2012.11.15–presentGeneral Secretary of the CCP Central Committee
- 2013.03.14–presentPresident of the PRC