Paramount leader

People's Republic of China

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the People's Republic of China

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Paramount leader (simplified Chinese: 党和国家最高领导人; traditional Chinese: 黨和國家最高領導人; pinyin: Dǎng hé guójiā zuìgāo lǐngdǎorén) literally "the highest leader of the party (Communist Party of China) and the state (People's Republic of China)", in modern Chinese political science, unofficially refers to the political leader of the People's Republic of China.

Until the mid-1990s, the paramount leader was able to wield power without necessarily holding any official or formally significant governmental position. The most notable example is former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping who held supreme power in the People's Republic of China roughly from 1978 to 1992 without officially holding the top political offices.

However with the passing of the Long March generation and since the institutionalization of power within the PRC, political power has become much more associated with the holding of political offices. In particular, since the transfer of power to Hu Jintao and the fourth generation leadership, the previous generation of Chinese leaders including Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji have not played an active role in political decision-making. Recently, the General Secretary holds the authority of paramount leader in China and the current Paramount Leader of China is Hu Jintao.

At present, the paramount leader usually holds the following posts:

• General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (The leader of the Party and holds the highest ranking position) (simplified Chinese: 中国共产党中央委员会总书记; traditional Chinese: 中國共產黨中央委員會總書記; pinyin: Zhōngguó gòngchǎndǎng zhōngyāng wěiyuánhuì zǒngshūjì)
• President of the People's Republic of China (The head of state - Powerless figurehead since 1982) (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国主席; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國主席; pinyin: Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó zhǔxí)
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission (Commander-in-chief of the armed forces) (simplified Chinese: 中央军事委员会主席; traditional Chinese: 中央軍事委員會主席; pinyin: Zhōngyāng jūnshì wěiyuánhuì zhǔxí)

History

The term was commonly applied to Mao Zedong, who at times ruled with practically absolute power, and Deng Xiaoping, who was the most influential person in the PRC despite not holding the most powerful official positions. Following the death of Deng Xiaoping, the term has seldom been used since power is held more-or-less collectively by the members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China with the General Secretary acting as a first among equals figure and different factions jockeying for influence. Policy decisions are thought to be made via majority vote of Standing Committee members following internal discussions. For example, though Jiang Zemin left the Standing Committee in 2002 and resigned all his posts in 2004, members of the Shanghai clique (of which Jiang is a member) retained a majority in the Standing Committee.

Hua Guofeng is generally not considered in the generational order of paramount leaders, as he was ousted from power by Deng Xiaoping in 1981.

Leadership transition takes several months. For instance, in the case of Hu Jintao:

• General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (November 2002)
• President of the People's Republic of China (March 2003)
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission (September 2004)

Usually the office as Chairman of the Central Military Commission is the last office handed over by the previous paramount leader, in order to secure political influence and ensure political continuity.

List of paramount leaders

To date, "paramount leader" has been applied to five individual Chinese statesmen (dates approximate and open to dispute):

      First generation       Second generation       Third generation       Fourth generation

Picture	Name	Offices Held	Period	Supreme Rule	Ideology
	Mao Zedong 毛泽东 (1893–1976) Beijing At-large	Chairman of the CPC Central Politburo	March 20, 1943 – September 28, 1956	October 1, 1949 ↓ September 9, 1976 (&1000000000000002600000026 years, &10000000000000344000000344 days)	Mao Zedong Thought
		Chairman of the CPC Central Secretariat
		Chairman of the CPC Central Committee	June 19, 1945 – September 9, 1976
		Chairman of the PRC Central People's Government	October 1, 1949 – September 27, 1954
		Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	October 9, 1949 – December 25, 1954
		Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission	September 8, 1954 – September 9, 1976
		Chairman of the PRC	September 27, 1954 – April 27, 1959
	Hua Guofeng 华国锋 (1921–2008) Hunan At-large (64–78) Beijing At-large (78–83)	Premier of the PRC State Council	February 4, 1976 – September 1980	September 9, 1976 ↓ December 22, 1978 (&100000000000000020000002 years, &10000000000000104000000104 days)	Two Whatevers
		Chairman of the CPC Central Committee	September 9, 1976 – December 22, 1978
		Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission	October 6, 1976 – June 28, 1981
	Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 (1904–1997) Beijing At-large (59–64,78–83) PLA At-large (83–97)	1st Vice Premier of the PRC State Council	January 17, 1975 – June 18, 1983	December 22, 1978 ↓ October 12, 1992 (&1000000000000001300000013 years, &10000000000000295000000295 days)	Deng Xiaoping Theory
		Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee	March 8, 1978 – June 17, 1983
		Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission	June 28, 1981 – November 9, 1989
		Chairman of the CPC Central Advisory Commission	13 September 1982 – 2 November 1987
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	June 6, 1983 – March 19, 1990
	Jiang Zemin 江泽民 (1926–) Shanghai At-large (88–08)	General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee	June 24, 1989 – November 25, 2002	October 12, 1992 ↓ September 19, 2004 (&1000000000000001100000011 years, &10000000000000343000000343 days)	Three Represents
		Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission	November 9, 1989 – September 19, 2004
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	March 19, 1990 – March 13, 2005
		President of the PRC	March 27, 1993 – March 15, 2003
	Hu Jintao 胡锦涛 (1942–) Guizhou At-large (88–93,98–03) Tibet At-large (93–98,03–08) Zhejiang At-large (08–present)	General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee	November 15, 2002 – present	September 19, 2004 ↓ Incumbent (&100000000000000070000007 years, &10000000000000157000000157 days)	Scientific Development Concept
		President of the PRC	March 15, 2003 – present
		Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission	September 19, 2004 – present
		Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission	March 13, 2005 – present

See also

• List of leaders of the Communist Party of China
  • Chairman of the Communist Party of China
  • General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
• Chairman of the Central Military Commission
• Political position ranking of PRC
• List of Chinese leaders
• Supreme Leader (disambiguation)
• Maximum Leader