Xi Jinping << shee jihn pihng >> (1953-…) became general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012. He succeeded Hu Jintao, China’s president, in the position. Xi also succeeded Hu in the post of chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him the head of China’s military. The National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, elected Xi president in March 2013, at the conclusion of Hu’s second five-year term. As president, Xi launched a major crackdown on corruption. The crackdown targeted people at all levels of government, from local officials to several former members of the Politburo, China’s chief policymaking body.
In 2018, the National People’s Congress reelected Xi as president. It also amended China’s Constitution to allow the president to serve more than two terms. It reelected Xi to a third term in 2023.
Xi Jinping was born in June 1953. He is a native of Fuping County, Shaanxi Province. He spent his childhood in Beijing, where his father, Xi Zhongxun, served as a high-ranking government official. Xi Jinping was an agricultural worker in Shaanxi Province from 1969 to 1975, during part of the Cultural Revolution (see Cultural Revolution). Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party in 1974. From 1975 to 1979, he earned a degree in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Xi began his political career in 1979 as an aide to the secretary-general of the Central Military Commission. He has retained close ties with the military throughout his career. Xi held a number of provincial offices as he rose through the ranks of the Communist Party. During the early 1980’s, he served in rural regions of Hebei Province. In the late 1980’s to early 2000’s, he helped oversee the growth of business and trade in the coastal provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
In 1997, Xi was named as an alternate member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee. He became a full member in 2002. He entered the Standing Committee of the Politburo in 2007. From 2008 to 2013, he served as China’s vice president. From 2010 to 2012, he was vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.
See also Hu Jintao.
