Xi Jinping: General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party since 2012, President of China since 2013

As paramount leader, he holds the offices of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As General Secretary, he is also a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body.

His Excellency Xi Jinping
习近平
Xi in 2023
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 November 2012
Deputy	Li Keqiang (№ 2nd in PSC)
Preceded by	Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 March 2013
Premier	Li Keqiang Li Qiang
Vice President	Li Yuanchao Wang Qishan Han Zheng
Preceded by	Hu Jintao
Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 November 2012
Deputy	Fan Changlong Xu Qiliang
Preceded by	Hu Jintao
Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 March 2013
Deputy	Fan Changlong Xu Qiliang
Preceded by	Hu Jintao
First Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China
In office 22 October 2007 – 15 November 2012
General Secretary	Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
Succeeded by	Liu Yunshan
Vice President of the People's Republic of China
In office 15 March 2008 – 14 March 2013
President	Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
Succeeded by	Li Yuanchao
President of the CPC Central Party School
In office 22 December 2007 – 15 January 2013
Deputy	Li Jingtian
Preceded by	Zeng Qinghong
Succeeded by	Liu Yunshan
Personal details
Born	(1953-06-15) 15 June 1953 (age 70) Beijing, China
Political party	Communist Party
Spouse(s)	Peng Liyuan (m. 1987)
Children	Mingze
Residence	Zhongnanhai, China
Alma mater	Tsinghua University

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

Xi Jinping is the son of former Chinese Vice Premier Xi Zhongxun and Qi Xin. He rose politically in China's coastal provinces. He was the Governor of Fujian between 1999 and 2002. Between 2002 and 2007, he was Governor and CPC party chief of Zhejiang. After the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to Shanghai as the party secretary for a short time in 2007. Xi was promoted to the central leadership in October 2007 and trained to become Hu Jintao's successor.

In November 2012, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission in the CPC convention. In March 2013, he was elected as the President of the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Congress. This started his first term as China's leader.

Chinese leadership changes every 5 years, and it happens roughly in October/November (for CPC and military) and March next year (for government). In October 2017 and March 2018, Xi was re-elected as party, military and government leader. This started his second term.

By tradition in recent decades, the Chinese leader leads two terms (10 years in total). The second term identifies his successor and prepares for the power transfer. However, Xi stopped this tradition and abandoned his potential successors Hu Chunhua and Sun Zhengcai.

On 11 March 2018, the National People's Congress approved an amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, so that Xi and the future presidents could be reelected for president without term limits.

 

In July 2018, a trade war started between the US and China. At the early stage Xi showed China's muscle by declaring to fight "a tooth for a tooth". As the conflicts continues to worsen, China softened its stance. There were reports that Xi's authority got damaged by his handling of the trade dispute with US.

Xi was born on 15 June 1953 in Beijing, China. His father held lots of posts, including party propaganda chief and vice premier. He has been married to Peng Liyuan since 1987. They have one daughter, Xi Mingze, who graduated from Harvard University in 2015. Xi lives in Zhongnanhai, China.