Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping
Traditional Chinese	習近平
Simplified Chinese	习近平
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xí Jìnpíng Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sip Kin-ping

Xi Jinping 习近平
Official portrait of Xi.
8th Vice President of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Assumed office March 15, 2008
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
15th CPC Shanghai Committee Secretary
In office March 15, 2007 – October 27, 2007
President	Hu Jintao
Deputy	Han Zheng
Preceded by	Han Zheng (acting)
Succeeded by	Yu Zhengsheng
Personal details
Born	(1953-06-01) June 1, 1953 Beijing, People's Republic of China
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse	Peng Liyuan
Relations	Xi Zhongxun (father)
Alma mater	Tsinghua University

Template:Chinese name Xi Jinping (simplified Chinese: 习近平; traditional Chinese: 習近平; pinyin: Xí Jìnpíng; born June 1953 in Beijing) is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the country's Vice-President, the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Principal 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, and was later appointed party chief of the neighbor Zhejiang province, and then was appointed as Shanghai's party chief following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu. Known for his liberal policies, tough stance on corruption, and a frank openness about political and market economy reforms, his combination of positions makes Xi the heir presumptive to current Chinese paramount leader Hu Jintao and the emerging leader of the People's Republic of China's fifth generation of leadership.

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. At age 10, during the Cultural Revolution, Xi's 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, Shanxi, in 1969 in Mao Zedong's Socialist Re-education movement (Chinese:知識青年上山下鄉運動). 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 during Cultural Revolution, Xi studied Chemical Engineering at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University. From 1979 to 1982 he worked for his father's former subordinate Geng Biao in the General Office of the Central Military Commission (as an officer in active service) gained some military background.

Rising Through the Ranks

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 Governor a year later. While there he made efforts to attract investment from Taiwan and to boost free market economy. In 2002 he took up senior government and Party positions in Zhejiang Province, as the party chief. Xi was in turn made an alternate member of the 15th CPC Central Committee and holds the membership of the 16th CPC Central Committee, signaling his involvement nationally. While in Zhejiang, one of China's most affluent provinces, a center for the success of China's 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 attention from China's top leaders.

After the dismissal of Chen Liangyu in September 2006 due to a social security fund scandal, Xi was "airlifted" into the city as the next Party Chief of Shanghai in March 2007. Xi's transferral 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.

Elevation to Centre

Grooming for Succession

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. Interestingly, 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 March 15, 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 the central government's leading figure in Hong Kong and Macau affairs. In addition, he also became the new Principal 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 went and visited disaster areas in Shaanxi and Gansu. 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.

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. Founder of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, said when asked about Xi, "I would put him in the Nelson Mandela's 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 has called Xi "the kind of guy who knows how to get things over the goal line."

Latin American Tour and Controversy

In February 2009, 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.

On February 11, while visiting Mexico, Xi spoke in front of a group of overseas Chinese and defended 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:

有些吃飽了没事幹的外国人，对我们[中国]说三道四,指手划脚。中国一不输出革命，二不输出饑餓和贫困，三不去折腾你们，还有什么好说的。

In English this is roughly translated as:

...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?

Although the comments led to a flood of discussions on Chinese internet forums, they were quickly censored and were omitted from official news broadcasts. The Daily Telegraph remarked that Xi's hardline comments gave some insight into the personality of China's future leader. Xi's comments were controversial, gathering support from Chinese nationalists but also criticism for his lack of discretion. Xi's actions were in noted contrast to the more diplomatic undertones of both President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Xi also met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

On 18 Feb 2009 UDN.com's Lai Jinhong (賴錦宏) reported that the China Ministry of foreign affair was caught by surprise by vice president Xi's non-diplomatic remarks, as the actual video was shot by some accompanying Hong Kong reporters, who then broadcast it on Hong Kong TV, which then turned up in various internet video websites.

Family

Xi married the famous Chinese folk singer Peng Liyuan (彭丽媛) in 1987. 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), nicknamed Xiao Muzi(小木子).

External links

• Biography at www.chinavitae.com
• A Louie & Associates Articles - President Hu's Top 4 Aides (2007)
• Internet video in Chinese:Xi Jinping's attacks foreginers on interference of China's affairs