

In 2008, he was designated as Hu Jintao's presumed successor as paramount leader to that end, Xi was appointed vice president of the PRC and vice chairman of the CMC. He subsequently joined the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the CCP the same year and served as first secretary of the Central Secretariat in October 2007. Following the dismissal of the party secretary of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to replace him for a brief period in 2007. Xi was governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, before becoming governor and party secretary of neighboring Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007. After studying chemical engineering at Tsinghua University as a worker-peasant-soldier student, Xi rose through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces.

He lived in a yaodong in the village of Liangjiahe, Shaanxi province, where he joined the CCP after several failed attempts and worked as the local party secretary.

The son of Chinese Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi was exiled to rural Yanchuan County as a teenager following his father's purge during the Cultural Revolution. Xi has also served as the president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 2013. Xi Jinping ( Chinese: 习近平 pinyin: Xí Jìnpíng born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, since 2012. 2007–2012: Leader, Central Coordination Group for Hong Kong and Macau Affairs.2007–2012: Leader, Leading Group for Activities of Deepening the Study and Practice of the Outlook of Scientific Development 2007–2012: Leader Group for Party Building.2012–2018: Leader, Foreign Affairs Leading Group.2012–present: Leader, Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs.2013–2018: Leader, Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms.2013–2018: Leader, Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.2013–present: Chairman, National Security Commission.2014–2018: Leader, Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatization.2014–present: Leader, Leading Group for Defence and Military Reform.2018–present: Director, Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission.2018–present: Director, Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission.2018–present: Director, Central Foreign Affairs Commission.2018–present: Leader, Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission.
