Paramount leader

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Chinese Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Paramount leader (Template:Zh) is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often holding the titles of CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC). The state representative (president) or head of government (premier) are not necessarily paramount leader—under China's party-state system, CCP roles are politically more important than state titles.

The paramount leader is not a formal position nor an office unto itself. The term gained prominence during the era of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989), when he was able to wield political power without holding any official or formally significant party or government positions at any given time (state representative, head of government or leader of the CCP), but the Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission (1981-1989). As the leader of the world's largest economy by GDP purchasing power parity (PPP), the second-largest economy by nominal GDP, and a potential superpower, the paramount leader is considered to be one of the world's most powerful political figures.

There has been significant overlap between paramount leader status and leadership core status, with a majority but not all of paramount leaders being also leadership cores, though they are separate concepts. The term has been used less frequently to describe Deng's successors, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping, who have all formally held the offices of General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (party leader), President of the People's Republic of China (state representative) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (commander-in-chief). Jiang, Hu and Xi are therefore usually referred to as president in the international scene, the title used by most other republican heads of state. However, Deng's successors derive their real power from the post of general secretary, which is the primary position in the Chinese power structure and generally regarded by scholars as the post whose holder can be considered paramount leader. The presidency is a largely ceremonial office according to the Constitution,Template:NoteTag and the most powerful position in the Chinese political system is the CCP general secretary. The general secretary has been the highest-ranking official in China's political system since 1982.Template:NoteTag

Xi Jinping is the current paramount leader. He is considered to have taken on the role in November 2012, when he became CCP general secretary, rather than in March 2013 when he succeeded Hu Jintao as president.

History

Chairman Mao Zedong was the undisputed ruler of Communist China from its beginning in 1949 and held three chairman offices at once: Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Central Military Commission and Chairman of the People's Republic of China (1954–59), making him the leader of the party, military and state, respectively. Following the Cultural Revolution, a rough consensus emerged within the party, that the worst excesses were caused by lack of checks and balances in the exercise of political power and the resulting "rule of personality" by Mao.

Beginning in the 1980s, the CCP leadership desired to prevent a single leader from rising above the party, as Chairman Mao had done. Accordingly, the post of CCP Chairman was abolished in 1982. Most of its functions were transferred to the revived post of General Secretary. The leadership experimented with a quasi-separation of powers, whereby the offices of general secretary, president and premier were held by different people. In 1985, for example, the CCP General Secretary was Hu Yaobang, the Chinese President was Li Xiannian and the Chinese Premier was Zhao Ziyang. However, Deng Xiaoping was still recognized as the core of the leadership. Both Hu and Zhao fell out of favour in the late 1980s, but Deng was able to retain ultimate political control.

In a discussion with Central Committee members in the lead-up 4th Plenum of the Thirteenth Central Committee (Jun. 23-24 1989), Deng Xiaoping introduced the concept of the "Core Leader". In his analysis, despite the existence of figures like Chen Duxiu, Qu Qiubai, Xiang Zhongfa, Li Lisan, and Wang Ming, the Party did not have a proper "Core Leader" until the ascent of Mao Zedong at the Zunyi Conference of 1935. Mao's election ushered in the "First Generation" of CCP leadership. As for the second generation, Deng conceded that in retrospect, he had himself been the "Core", but that he had been constantly planning for the transition to a third generation. For this purpose, he encouraged his audience to rally around Jiang Zemin as the core of the "Third Generation". Despite Deng formally relinquishing the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission until the 5th Plenum (Nov. 6-9 1989), official histories published by the CCP regard this endorsement, at the 4th Plenum, as the transition from the Deng administration to the Jiang administration.

The paramount leader label has been applied to Deng's successors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, though it is generally recognized that they did not wield as much power as Deng despite their having held more offices of leadership. There has been a greater emphasis on collective leadership, whereby the top leader is a first among equals style figure, exercising power with the consensus of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee. This was particularly apparent during the tenure of Hu Jintao.Template:NoteTag Beginning in 1993, Jiang formally held the three offices that made him the head of the party, state, and military:

• General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party: the party leader and the primary position of the state.
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission: Supreme Military Command of the People's Liberation Army.
• President of the People's Republic of China: the largely ceremonial state representative under the 1982 Constitution.

When Jiang left the offices of General Secretary and President in 2002 and 2003, respectively, he held onto the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Military power had always been an important facet in the exercise of political power in Communist-ruled China and as such holding the top military post meant Jiang retained some formal power. When Jiang stepped down from his formal posts between 2002 and 2004, it was ambiguous who the paramount leader was. Hu Jintao held the same trio of positions during his years in power. Hu transferred all three positions onto his successor Xi Jinping between November 2012, when Xi became CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission; and March 2013, when Xi became president. Since Xi's ascendance to power, two new bodies, the National Security Commission and Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission, have been established, ostensibly concentrating political power in the paramount leader to a greater degree than anyone since Deng. These bodies were tasked with establishing the general policy direction for national security, as well as economic reform. Both groups are headed by the General Secretary.

List of paramount leaders

Bold offices refer to the highest position in the Chinese Communist Party.

Picture	Name	Period	Ideology (Generation)	CCP leaders	Presidents	Premiers	Offices held
File:Mao Zedong in 1957 (cropped).jpg	Mao Zedong (1893–1976)	1 October 1949 ↓ 9 September 1976 (Template:Age in years and days)	Mao Zedong Thought (First)	Himself	Himself Liu Shaoqi Post abolished	Zhou Enlai Hua Guofeng	Chairman of the CCP Central Politburo	20 March 1943 – 28 September 1956
							Chairman of the CCP Central Secretariat
							Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	19 June 1945 – 9 September 1976
							Chairman of the PRC Central People's Government	1 October 1949 – 27 September 1954
							Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	9 October 1949 – 25 December 1954
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	8 September 1954 – 9 September 1976
							Chairman of the PRC	27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959
File:Musée de Bretagne - Hua Guofeng 197904-02 (cropped).jpg	Hua Guofeng (1921–2008)	9 September 1976 ↓ 22 December 1978 (Template:Age in years and days)	Two Whatevers (First)	Himself	Post abolished	Himself	Premier of the PRC State Council	4 February 1976 – 10 September 1980
							First Vice Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	7 April 1976 – 7 October 1976
							Chairman of the CCP Central Committee	7 October 1976 – 28 June 1981
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission
File:Deng Xiaoping 2 (cropped).jpg	Deng Xiaoping (1904–1997)	22 December 1978 ↓ 9 November 1989 (Template:Age in years and days)	Deng Xiaoping Theory (Second)	Hua Guofeng Hu Yaobang Zhao Ziyang Jiang Zemin	Post abolished Li Xiannian Yang Shangkun	Hua Guofeng Zhao Ziyang Li Peng	First Vice Premier of the PRC State Council	17 January 1975 – 18 June 1983
							Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	8 March 1978 – 17 June 1983
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	28 June 1981 – 9 November 1989
							Chairman of the CCP Central Advisory Commission	13 September 1982 – 2 November 1987
							Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	6 June 1983 – 19 March 1990
File:Jiang Zemin 2002.jpg	Jiang Zemin (1926–2022)	9 November 1989 ↓ 15 November 2002 (Template:Age in years and days)	Three Represents (Third)	Himself	Yang Shangkun Himself	Li Peng Zhu Rongji	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	24 June 1989 – 15 November 2002
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	9 November 1989 – 19 September 2004
							Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	19 March 1990 – 13 March 2005
							President of the PRC	27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003
File:Hu Jintao 2012.jpg	Hu Jintao (born 1942)	15 November 2002 ↓ 15 November 2012 (Template:Age in years years)	Scientific Outlook on Development (Fourth)	Himself		Wen Jiabao	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012
							President of the PRC	15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission	19 September 2004 – 15 November 2012
							Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	13 March 2005 – 14 March 2013
File:Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 13, 2025 (cropped).jpg	Xi Jinping (born 1953)	15 November 2012 ↓ Incumbent (Template:Age in years and days)	Xi Jinping Thought (Fifth)	Himself		Li Keqiang Li Qiang	General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee	15 November 2012 – Incumbent
							Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission
							President of the PRC	14 March 2013 – Incumbent
							Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission
							Leader of the CCP Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission	30 December 2013 – Incumbent
							Chairman of the CCP National Security Commission	25 January 2014 – Incumbent

List of spouses of the paramount leaders / First Ladies of China

All six leaders have had a spouse during their terms in office. The current First Lady is Peng Liyuan, wife of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Picture	Name	Leader	Tenure
File:Jiang qing yanan 001.JPG	Jiang Qing (1914–1991)	Mao Zedong	1 October 1949 – 9 September 1976
File:Han Zhijun.jpg	Han Zhijun (born 1930)	Hua Guofeng	9 September 1976 – 22 December 1978
File:Madame Zhuo Lin at an arrival ceremony for the Vice Premier of China. - NARA - 183167 (cropped).jpg	Zhuo Lin (1916–2009)	Deng Xiaoping	22 December 1978 – 9 November 1989
File:Wang Yeping.jpg	Wang Yeping (born 1928)	Jiang Zemin	9 November 1989 – 15 November 2002
File:Liu Yongqing (5183941575) (cropped).jpg	Liu Yongqing (born 1940)	Hu Jintao	15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012
File:Peng Liyuan C.jpg	Peng Liyuan (born 1962)	Xi Jinping	15 November 2012 – Incumbent

See also

• List of Chinese leaders
• Leader of the Chinese Communist Party
• Order of precedence in China
• Great Leader
• Primus inter pares