Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping Simplified Chinese 习近平 Traditional Chinese 習近平 Transcriptions Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xí Jìnpíng IPA [ɕi  tɕi npʰi ŋ] Cantonese Jyutping zaap6 gan6 ping4 Yale Romanization jaahp gahn pìhng Xi Jinping (pinyin: Xí Jìnpíng, pronounced [ɕǐ tɕînpʰǐŋ]; born 15 June 1953) is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the President of the People's Republic of China, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As Xi holds the top offices of the party, state and military, he is sometimes informally referred to as China's "paramount leader". As General Secretary, Xi is also an ex officio member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body. Son of communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping rose through the ranks politically in China's coastal provinces. He served as the Governor of Fujian between 1999 and 2002, then as Governor and Party Secretary of the neighboring Zhejiang between 2002 and 2007. Following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to Shanghai as the Party Secretary for a brief period in 2007. Xi was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee and Central Secretariat in October 2007 and was groomed to become Hu Jintao's successor. He served as Vice-President between 2008 and 2013. Xi is now the leader of the People's Republic's fifth generation of leadership. He has initiated a renewed campaign against corruption, further market economic reforms, governing with greater emphasis on the law and legal institutions, and a comprehensive national renewal under the neologism "Chinese Dream".