President of China

For the president of Taiwan, see President of the Republic of China.

For the de facto leader of China, see Paramount leader.

President of the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国主席
Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent Xi Jinping since 14 March 2013
Style	Mr. President (主席)
Type	nominal figurehead
Status	de jure Head of State
Residence	Zhongnanhai (informal)
Seat	Beijing
Nominator	the Presidium of the National People's Congress
Appointer	the National People's Congress
Term length	Five Years, renewable once consecutively
Inaugural holder	Mao Zedong as the first President under the 1954 Constitution Li Xiannian as the first President under the 1982 Constitution
Formation	27 September 1954 18 June 1983
Deputy	Vice President
Website	Presidency

President of the People's Republic of China
Simplified Chinese	中华人民共和国主席
Traditional Chinese	中華人民共和國主席
Literal meaning	Chinese People Republic Chairperson
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhǔxí
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	国家主席
Traditional Chinese	國家主席
Literal meaning	State Chairperson
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guójiā Zhǔxí

The President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the de jure head of state of the People's Republic of China (PRC). On paper, the presidency is a largely ceremonial office (figurehead) with limited powers. However, in recent years the General Secretary of the Communist Party has also served simultaneously as President, and his election to the post marks his ascension as paramount leader of the country. The office is classified as an institution of the state rather than an administrative post.

The office was first established in the PRC Constitution of 1954 and successively held by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi in 1959. Liu fell into political disgrace during the Cultural Revolution and the office was abolished. The office was officially scrapped under the Constitution of 1975, then reinstated in the Constitution of 1982, but with reduced powers. The official English-language translation of the title was "Chairman"; after 1982, this translation was changed to "President", although the Chinese title remains unchanged.

Under the present Chinese constitution, the Presidency is a prestigious but largely ceremonial position holding few powers in its own right, most significantly the right to nominate the Premier. Most of the few powers the President does possess are subject to the approval of the National People's Congress, by whom the President is elected for up to two terms of five years each.

However, since the presidency of Jiang Zemin, every President has also simultaneously held the positions of CPC General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, which, unlike the Presidency, wield significant power. As a result of this convention, the President, the head of state, also controls the Chinese Communist Party, state and military, therefore being China's de facto "paramount leader". That is to say, present-day paramount leaders hold the office of President, but the President is not necessarily the paramount leader, as was the case between 1959 and 1993.

The current President is Xi Jinping, who took office on 14 March 2013.

Qualifications and election

According to the current Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the President must be a Chinese citizen with full electoral rights who has reached the age of 45. The President's term of office is the same as the term of the National People's Congress (currently five years), and the president and vice-president are both limited to two consecutive terms.

The President is elected by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's highest state body, which also has the power to remove the President and other state officers from office. Elections and removals are decided by a simple majority vote.

According to the Organic Law of the NPC, the President is nominated by the NPC Presidium, the Congress's executive organ. In practice, however, the ruling Communist Party of China reserves the post of President for its current General Secretary. Like all officers of state elected by the NPC, the President is elected from a one name ballot.

In the event that the office of President falls vacant, the Vice-President succeeds to the office. In the event that both offices fall vacant, the Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee temporarily acts as President until the NPC can elect a new President and Vice-President.

Powers and duties

Under the current Constitution of the People's Republic of China, instated in 1982 with minor revisions in later years, the President has the power to promulgate laws, select and dismiss the Premier (prime minister) as well as the ministers of the State Council, grant presidential pardons, declares a state of emergency, issue mass mobilization orders, and issue state honours. In addition, the President names and dismisses ambassadors to foreign countries, signs and annuls treaties with foreign entities. According to the Constitution, all of these powers require the approval or confirmation of the National People's Congress. The President also conducts state visits on behalf of the People's Republic. Under the constitution the "state visit" clause is the only presidential power that does not stipulate any form of oversight from the National People's Congress. As the vast majority of presidential powers are dependent on the ratification of the NPC, the President is, in essence, a symbolic post without any direct say in the governance of state. It is therefore conceived to mainly function as an symbolic institution of the state rather than an office with true executive powers.

In theory, the President has discretion over the selection of the Premier, though in practice the Premier has historically been selected through the top-level discussions of the Communist Party of China. Upon the nomination of the Premier, the NPC convenes to confirm the nomination, but since only one name is on the ballot, it can only approve or reject. To date, it has never rejected a personnel nomination. Since the Premier, the head of government in China, is the most important political appointment in the Chinese government, the nomination power, under some circumstances, may give the President real political influence.

Political ranking

Main article: Orders of precedence in the People's Republic of China

For President Liu Shaoqi, he was also the first Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China, ranked second in the Communist Party of China, behind Chairman Mao Zedong. For President Li Xiannian, he was also the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, after CPC General Secretary and Premier. For President Yang Shangkun, he was not a member of Politburo Standing Committee, but he ranked third after General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and Deng Xiaoping. Since Jiang Zemin, the President is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, ranking first in Party and State.

History

The office of State Chairman (the original English translation, as noted above) was first established under China's 1954 Constitution. The ceremonial powers of the office were largely identical to those in the current Constitution.

The powers of the 1954 office differed from those of the current office in two areas: military and governmental. The State Chairman's military powers were defined in the 1954 Constitution as follows: "The Chairman of the People's Republic of China commands the armed forces of the state, and is Chairman of the National Defence Council (Chinese: 国防委员会)." The National Defence Council was unique to the 1954 Constitution, and was mandated as the civil command for the People's Liberation Army. It was abolished under the 1975 Constitution.

The State Chairman's governmental powers were defined in the 1954 Constitution as follows: "The Chairman of the People's Republic of China, whenever necessary, convenes a Supreme State Conference (Chinese: 最高国务会议) and acts as its chairman." The members of the Supreme State Conference included the main officers of state, and its views were to be presented to the main organs of state and government, including the National People's Congress and the State and National Defense Councils. The Supreme State Conference was also unique to the 1954 Constitution. It was abolished under the 1975 Constitution and later Constitutions have not included a similar body.

As Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong was elected State Chairman at the founding session of the National People's Congress. At the 2nd NPC in 1959, Mao was succeeded by Liu Shaoqi, first Vice Chairman of the Communist Party, in the position. Liu was reelected as State Chairman at the 3rd NPC in Jan 1965. However, in 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution and by August 1966 Mao and his supporters succeeding in removing Liu from his position as party Vice Chairman. A few months later Liu was apparently placed under house arrest, and after a prolonged power struggle, on October 31, 1968, the 12th Plenum of the 8th Communist Party Congress stripped Liu Shaoqi of all his party and non-party positions, including that of State Chairman. This was in violation of the Constitution, which required a vote by the NPC to remove the State Chairman. In fact, during the Cultural Revolution the NPC itself ceased to operate; the last meeting of its Standing Committee was on July 7, 1966, when it voted to postpone its next session. The NPC and its Standing Committee did not meet again until 1975, and during that period the office of State Chairman was vacant.

Lin Biao's attempt to fill the vacant state chairmanship and vice-chairmanship posts in 1968-69 ended in failure, owing to Chairman Mao's opposition. From 1969 to 1972-73, Dong Biwu served as acting head of state.

When the 4th NPC was convened in 1975, its main act was to adopt a new Constitution which eliminated the office of State Chairman and emphasized instead the leadership of the Communist Party over the state, including an article that made the Party Chairman Supreme Commander of the PLA in concurrence as Chairman of the Party CMC. The 5th NPC was convened two years early, in 1978, and a third Constitution was adopted, which also lacked the office of State Chairman. The office was finally reinstated in the fourth Constitution, adopted by the 6th NPC in 1983. The title of the office (guojia zhuxi) was unchanged in the Chinese text, but a new English translation of "President of the People's Republic of China" was adopted.

In this Constitution, the President was conceived of as a figurehead of state with actual state power resting in the hands of the General Secretary of the Communist Party and the Premier, and all three posts were designed to be held by separate people. The President therefore held minor responsibilities such as greeting foreign dignitaries and signing the appointment of embassy staff, and did not intervene in the affairs of the State Council or the Party. In the original 1982 Constitution plan, the Party would develop policy, the state would execute it, and the power would be divided to prevent a cult of personality from forming as it did with the case of Mao Zedong. Thus in 1982, China perceivably had four main leaders: Hu Yaobang, the Party General Secretary; Zhao Ziyang, the Premier; Li Xiannian, the President; and Deng Xiaoping, the "Paramount Leader", holding title of the Chairman of the Central Military Commission and was overall commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The current political structure of Vietnam is similar to the structure China followed in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, the experiment of separating party and state posts, which led to conflict during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, was terminated. In 1993, the post of President was taken by Jiang Zemin, who as General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, became the undisputed top leader of the party and the state. When Jiang Zemin stepped down in 2003, the offices of General Secretary and President were once again both given to one man, then Vice-President Hu Jintao, the first Vice President to assume the office. In turn, Hu vacated both offices for Xi Jinping in 2012 and 2013.

List of presidents

Main article: List of Presidents of the People's Republic of China

Chairmen/Presidents

• Mao Zedong 1st Chairman (27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959)
  Mao Zedong
  1st Chairman
  (27 September 1954 – 27 April 1959)
• 
  Liu Shaoqi
  2nd Chairman
  (27 April 1959 – 31 October 1968)
• 
  Dong Biwu
  Acting Chairman
  (24 February 1972 – 17 January 1975)
• 
  Song Qingling
  Honorary Chairwoman
  (16 May 1981 – 28 May 1981)
• 
  Li Xiannian
  3rd President
  (18 June 1983 – 8 April 1988)
• 
  Yang Shangkun
  4th President
  (8 April 1988 – 27 March 1993)
• 
  Jiang Zemin
  5th President
  (27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003)
• 
  Hu Jintao
  6th President
  (15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013)
• Xi Jinping 7th President (14 March 2013 – present)
  Xi Jinping
  7th President
  (14 March 2013 – present)

Other Heads of State

• Mao Zedong Chairman of the Central People's Government (1949–1954)
  Mao Zedong
  Chairman of the Central People's Government (1949–1954)
• 
  Zhu De
  Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1975–1976)
• 
  Song Qingling
  Acting Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1976–1978)
• 
  Ye Jianying
  Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (1978–1983)

President's Spouse

Main article: Spouse of the President of the People's Republic of China

Since the first president, seven had a spouse during term of office.

№	Spouse	President	Tenure
1	Jiang Qing	Mao Zedong	1 October 1949 – 27 April 1959
2	Wang Guangmei	Liu Shaoqi	27 April 1959 – 31 October 1968
3	Lin Jiamei	Li Xiannian	18 June 1983 – 8 April 1988
4	Li Bozhao	Yang Shangkun	8 April 1988 – 27 March 1993
5	Wang Yeping	Jiang Zemin	27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003
6	Liu Yongqing	Hu Jintao	15 March 2003 – 14 March 2013
7	Peng Liyuan	Xi Jinping	14 March 2013 – Incumbent

Living former presidents

As of November 2024, there are two living former presidents:

President	Term of office	Date of birth
Jiang Zemin	1993–2003	(1926-08-17) 17 August 1926
Hu Jintao	2003–2013	(1942-12-21) 21 December 1942

See also

• List of leaders of the People's Republic of China
• Vice President of the People's Republic of China
• Premier of the People's Republic of China
• Political position ranking of the People's Republic of China
• Paramount Leader
• List of Chinese leaders
• Air transports of heads of state and government

External links

• The President's Official Website Template:En icon