Xi Jinping

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xi.

Xi Jinping 习近平
First Secretary of Secretariat of the Communist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 October 2007
General Secretary	Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
8th Vice President of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 March 2008
President	Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
Member of the 17th CPC Politburo Standing Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 October 2007
General Secretary	Hu Jintao
Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 October 2010 Serving with Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou
Chairman	Hu Jintao
President of the CPC Central Party School
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 December 2007
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
Member of the National People's Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 March 1998
Constituency	Fujian At-large (98-03) Zhejiang At-large (03-08) Shanghai At-large (08-)
15th Communist Party Committee Secretary of Shanghai
In office 15 March 2007 – 27 October 2007
Deputy	Han Zheng
Preceded by	Han Zheng (Acting)
Succeeded by	Yu Zhengsheng
Personal details
Born	1 June 1953 (1953-06-01) Beijing, China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Peng Liyuan
Children	Xi Mingze
Residence	Beijing
Alma mater	Tsinghua University
Profession	Chemical engineer
Signature

Xi Jinping
Simplified Chinese	习近平
Traditional Chinese	習近平
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Xí Jìnpíng - IPA [ɕǐ tɕînpʰǐŋ]

Xi Jinping (born 1 June 1953) is a high-ranking politician of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, the country's Vice President, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission, President of the Central Party School and the 6th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top power organ.

Son of communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping served mostly in Fujian province in his early career. He was later appointed party chief of the neighboring Zhejiang province, and then was appointed as Shanghai's party chief following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu. Known for his tough stance on corruption and a frank openness about political and market economy reforms, Xi's combination of positions makes him the presumptive heir to current General Secretary and President Hu Jintao and the emerging leader of the Communist Party of China's fifth generation of leadership.

Biography

Early life

Xi Jinping was born in June 1953 in Beijing and is, by Chinese convention, a native of Fuping County, Shaanxi, his ancestral home. He is the youngest son of Xi Zhongxun, one of the founders of the Communist guerrilla movement in Shaanxi Province in northern China and former Vice-Premier. At the time his father served as the head of the Communist Party's propaganda department and later Vice-Chairman of the National People's Congress. When Xi was 10, during the Cultural Revolution, his father was purged and was sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, and jailed in 1968. Without the protection of his father, Xi went to work in Yanchuan County, Yan'an, Shaanxi, in 1969 in Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement. He later became the Party branch secretary of the production team. When he left in 1975, he was only 22 years old. When asked about this experience later by state television, Xi recalled it saying, "It was emotional. It was a mood. And when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion.".

From 1975 to 1979, Xi studied chemical engineering at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University. From 1979 to 1982 he served as secretary for his father's former subordinate Geng Biao, the then vice premier and Secretary-General of the Central Military Commission. This gained Xi some military background.

Ascent

Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party of China in 1974. In 1982 he was sent to Zhengding County in Hebei as its party secretary. Xi subsequently served in four provinces during his political career: Shaanxi, Hebei, Fujian and Zhejiang.

Xi held Party positions in the CPC Fuzhou Municipal Committee, and became the president of the Party School in Fuzhou in 1990. In 1999 he was promoted to the Deputy Governor of Fujian province, then became Governor a year later. While there he made efforts to attract investment from Taiwan and to boost free market economy. In February 2000 he and provincial Party Secretary Chen Mingyi were called before the top four members of the Politburo Standing Committee – General Secretary, President Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, Vice-President Hu Jintao and Discipline Inspection head Wei Jianxing to explain aspects of the Yuanhua scandal.

In 2002 Xi took up senior government and Party positions in Zhejiang Province, and eventually took over as party chief after several months as acting Governor, becoming the first-in-charge in the economically successful coastal province. Xi was then made an alternate member of the 15th CPC Central Committee and holds the membership of the 16th CPC Central Committee, marking his ascension to the national stage. While in Zhejiang, one of China's most affluent provinces and a center of China's successful economic development, Xi provided the economic environment which secured growth rates averaging 14% per year. His career in Zhejiang was marked by tough and straightforward stance against corrupt officials, which earned him a name on the national media and drew the attention of China's top leaders.

Following the dismissal of Shanghai Party Chief Chen Liangyu in September 2006 due to a social security fund scandal, Xi was transferred to Shanghai in March 2007 to become the new Party Chief of Shanghai. Xi's appointment to one of the most important regional posts in China was clearly a sign of confidence from the Central Government. While in Shanghai he was careful not to touch any controversial issues while largely echoing the line of the central leadership. Xi's career is notable in that during his regional tenures, he was never implicated in any serious scandals, nor did he face serious political opposition.

Joining the Standing Committee and Vice-Presidency

Xi Jinping shaking hands with United States President George W. Bush.

Xi's appointment to the Party Secretary post in Shanghai was seen as a stepping stone for him to become an emerging member of the fifth generation of Chinese leadership. This was solidified by his appointment as a member of the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee at the 17th Party Congress in October 2007. Xi was ranked above Li Keqiang, which made him the most likely candidate for China's next core figure – the paramount leader. This assessment was further supported at the 11th National People's Congress, Xi was elected as Vice-President of the People's Republic of China on 15 March 2008. Some suggest this was because Xi had kept friendly relations with both Hu Jintao and the other power figure in the central leadership, Zeng Qinghong. In addition to these posts, Xi also held the top-ranking membership of the Communist Party's Secretariat.

Since his elevation Xi has held a broad range of portfolios. He was put in charge of the comprehensive preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, as well as being the central government's leading figure in Hong Kong and Macau affairs. In addition, he also became the new President of the Central Party School, the cadre-training and ideological education wing of the Communist Party. In the wake of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, Xi visited disaster areas in Shaanxi and Gansu. Xi made his first foreign visit after his vice presidency to visit North Korea, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen from 17 to 25 June 2008. After the Olympics, Xi was assigned the post of Committee Chair for the preparations of the 60th Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of the People's Republic of China. He was also reportedly at the helm of a top-level Communist Party committee dubbed the 6521 Project, which was charged with ensuring social stability during a series of political sensitive anniversaries in 2009.

Xi is considered to be one of the most successful members of the Crown Prince Party, a quasi-clique of politicians who are descendants of early Chinese revolutionaries. Senior leaders consider Xi to be an emerging figure that is open to serious dialogue about deep-seated market economic reforms and even political reform, although Xi's personal political views are relatively murky. He is generally popular with foreign dignitaries, who are intrigued by his openness and pragmatism. Former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, when asked about Xi, said he felt he was "a thoughtful man who has gone through many trials and tribulations." Lee also commented: "I would put him in the Nelson Mandela class of persons. A person with enormous emotional stability who does not allow his personal misfortunes or sufferings affect his judgment. In other words, he is impressive". Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is said to be a friend of Xi describing him as "the kind of guy who knows how to get things over the goal line."

Tours

In February 2009, in his capacity as Vice-President, Xi Jinping embarked on a Latin American foreign trip to Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil to promote Chinese ties in the region and boost the country's reputation in the wake of the global financial crisis. Xi met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

On 11 February, while visiting Mexico, Xi spoke in front of a group of overseas Chinese and explained China's contributions to the financial crisis, saying that it was "the greatest contribution towards the whole of human race, made by China, to prevent its 1.3 billion people from hunger". He followed with a rather direct accusation for "foreigners" trying to interfere in Chinese affairs, a subject that has always been sensitive in Chinese political circles. In Chinese, Xi remarked: "There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us [China]. First, China doesn't export revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more is there to be said?"

The story was reported on some local television stations. The news led to a flood of discussions on Chinese internet forums. It was reported that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was caught off-guard by Xi's non-diplomatic remarks, as the actual video was shot by some accompanying Hong Kong reporters and broadcast on Hong Kong TV, which then turned up in various internet video websites.

Xi has since gone on a series of foreign visits, some say to burnish his foreign affairs credentials before he takes the helm of China's leadership. Xi visited Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania from 7 to 21 October 2009. Xi visited Japan, South Korea, Cambodia and Myanmar on his Asian trip from 14 to 22 December 2009.

Xi is scheduled to visit the United States in February 2012. The visit will include a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on February 14, and potential stops in California and Iowa.

Political future

Xi was named as one of the most influential people in the world in the 2009 and 2011 Time 100 lists. The British magazine New Statesman listed Xi Jinping at number 4 in their annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010". In September 2009, at the Fourth Plenum of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping was not selected as the Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) as expected, raising some questions about his succession. Political analyst Cheng Li believed that Xi's failure to secure the CMC promotion was evidence that the Communist Party was developing internal checks and balances, giving way to more sophisticated mechanisms for leadership succession. Xi was officially appointed to the vice-chairmanship on 18 October 2010, a position Hu Jintao once held back in 1999 before taking over the secretaryship and the presidency years later. By 2010, it became clear that Xi would succeed Hu as General Secretary and President in 2012 and 2013 separately.

Personal life

Xi married the famous Chinese folk singer Peng Liyuan (彭丽媛) in 1987, his second marriage. Peng Liyuan, a household name in China, was much better known to the public than Xi until his political elevation. The couple frequently live apart due to their largely separate lives. They are sometimes considered China's emerging star political couple. They have a daughter named Xi Mingze (习明泽), who enrolled as a freshman at Harvard University in the Fall of 2010 under a pseudonym.

Peng has described Xi as frugal, hardworking and down to earth. "When he comes home, I've never thought of it as though there's some leader in the house. In my eyes, he's just my husband."

Xi was described in a 2011 Washington Post article by those who know him as "pragmatic, serious, cautious, hard-working, down to earth and low-key. They also say he is a problem-solver and a leader seemingly uninterested in the trappings of high office."

See also

• Quotations of Xi Jinping
• Crown Prince Party
• Xi-Li Administration

External links

• News about Xi Jinping on the China Digital Times
• Biography at www.chinavitae.com
• A Louie & Associates Articles – President Hu's Top 4 Aides (2007)
• Internet video in Chinese:Xi Jinping's attacks foreigners on interference of China's affairs
• U.S. Embassy Beijing, Portrait of Xi Jinping, via United States diplomatic cables leak
• Video: Xi Jinping visited Vladivostok 2010 (Russian)

Party political offices
Preceded by Zhang Dejiang	Communist Party Committee Secretary of Zhejiang 2002–2007	Succeeded by Zhao Hongzhu
Preceded by Han Zheng	Communist Party Committee Secretary of Shanghai 2007	Succeeded by Yu Zhengsheng
Preceded by Zeng Qinghong	First Secretary of Secretariat of the Communist Party of China 2007–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by He Guoqiang	Governor of Fujian 1999–2002	Succeeded by Lu Zhangong
Preceded by Chai Songyue	Governor of Zhejiang Acting 2002–2003	Succeeded by Lü Zushan
Preceded by Li Zemin	Chairperson of the People's Congress Standing Committee of Zhejiang 2003–2007	Succeeded by Yu Guoxing
Preceded by Zeng Qinghong	Vice President of the People's Republic of China 2008–present	Incumbent
Academic offices
Preceded by Zeng Qinghong	President of the Central Party School 2007–present	Incumbent