General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

This article is about the Head of Communist Party of China since 12th Central Committee in 1982. For the Leader of Communist Party between 1943 to 1982, see Chairman of the Communist Party of China.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China 中国共产党中央委员会总书记
Emblem of the Communist Party of China
Incumbent Xi Jinping since 15 November 2012
Style	Comrade
Type	Party leader
Status	ranked #1
Residence	Zhongnanhai
Appointer	the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Term length	Five Years
Precursor	Chairman of the Communist Party of China
Inaugural holder	Chen Duxiu (1925) Hu Yaobang (1982)
Formation	1925–1943 September 1982
Unofficial names	Paramount leader
Website	Top Leadership

General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì
Commonly abbreviated as
Simplified Chinese	中共中央总书记
Traditional Chinese	中共中央總書記
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Zǒngshūjì

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, officially General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is head of the Communist Party of China and the highest-ranking official within China, a standing member of the Politburo and head of the Secretariat. The officeholder is usually considered the paramount leader of China.

According to the Constitution, the General Secretary serves as an ex officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body. Since the early 1990s, the holder of the post has been, except for transitional periods, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making the holder the Commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army.

The current General Secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012.

Powers and position

Since the abolition of the post of Chairman of the Communist Party of China in 12th Central Committee in 1982, the General Secretary is the highest-ranking official of the party and heads the Central Secretariat, Political bureau and its Standing Committee.

Since its revival in 1982, the post of General Secretary has been de jure the most important post in the PRC, though it did not become the de facto most important post until Deng Xiaoping's retirement in 1990. As China is a de facto one-party state, the General Secretary holds ultimate power and authority over state and government. However, the men who have held the post have held far less power than Mao Zedong. Since the mid-1990s, the General Secretary has traditionally also held the post of President of the PRC. While the presidency is nominally a ceremonial post, it is customary for the General Secretary to assume the presidency to confirm his status as de jure head of state.

Since the Party National Security Commission and Leading Group for Deepening Reforms established, the power of the General Secretary has become more concentrated.

Since Xi Jinping's ascendance to power, two new bodies, the National Security Commission and Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, have been established, ostensibly concentrating political power in the "paramount leader" to a greater degree than anyone since Deng. These bodies were tasked with establishing the general policy direction for national security as well as the agenda for economic reform. Both groups are headed by the General Secretary.

List of general secretaries and chairmen

Main article: List of general secretaries and chairmen of the Communist Party of China

• Chen Duxiu.jpg

  Chen Duxiu
  (1 July 1921 – 7 August 1927)

• Xiang Chongfai.jpg

  Xiang Zhongfa
  (7 August 1927 – 24 July 1931)

• 

  Bo Gu
  (24 July 1931 – January 1935)

• Zhang Wentian3.jpg

  Zhang Wentian
  (January 1935 – 20 March 1943)

• 

  Mao Zedong
  (20 March 1943 – 9 September 1976)

• 

  Hua Guofeng
  (7 October 1976 – 28 July 1981)

• Hu Yaobang's Former Residence 148.jpg

  Hu Yaobang
  (28 July 1981 – 15 January 1987)

• Zhao Ziyang-1.jpg

  Zhao Ziyang
  (15 January 1987 – 23 July 1989)

• Jiang Zemin at Hickam Air Base, October 26, 1997, cropped.jpg

  Jiang Zemin
  (23 July 1989 – 15 November 2002)

• 

  Hu Jintao
  (15 November 2002 – 15 November 2012)

• 

  Xi Jinping
  (15 November 2012 – present)

See also

• Paramount leader
• List of general secretaries and chairmen of the Communist Party of China
• Chairman of the Communist Party of China
• Orders of precedence in the People's Republic of China

References

• China Online Encyclopedia