Hu Jintao

Born in 1942 and Chinese president since 2003, Anhui native Hu Jintao had been posted to Gansu, Guizhou and Tibet during his climb up the party ranks, and first became a member of the Politburo’s standing committee in 1992. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1964 with a degree in engineering. The Communist Youth League is known to be a staunch supporter of Hu. He retired as General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee and Chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission during the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, and expected to handover presidency of the PRC to Xi Jinping in the spring of 2013.

Hu Jintao

3 Oct 2012

President of the PRC, former General Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, and former Chairman of the Central Military Commission

10:53PM

Learn from the West on how to curb graft

22 Apr 2013

Bao Zheng, a magistrate in Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, has been immortalised in Chinese dramas and operas as a symbol of justice and the best known...

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4 comments

Shenzhen builds canopy to protect tree planted by ex-president Hu Jintao

15 Mar 2013

Backpackers and homeless people in Shenzhen might now consider sleeping under a laurel tree in the city’s Lianhuashan Park.

After all, it’s sheltered, has a great view and is free.

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Xi Jinping completes rapid transfer of power

15 Mar 2013

Xi Jinping's formal election as new president yesterday saw him assume full control over the Communist Party, the state and the armed forces in a swift and orderly transfer of power from...

5:10AM

Hu remains an enigma as he hands over power to Xi

15 Mar 2013

Hu Jintao maintained his poker face and remained an enigma to many on the last day in power yesterday as he handed over his last two top posts - state president and head of the state's Central...

4:19AM

Hu Jintao aide pays price for fatal Ferrari crash scandal

12 Mar 2013

The former top aide to outgoing President Hu Jintao scraped through to vice-chairmanship of the nation's top political advisory body yesterday with the lowest number of votes, after his career was...

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4 comments

Opinion

Ferry companies shouldn't be subsidised while they burn dirty fuel

2:53AM

Shirley Yam

What were our top officials doing to let HKMEx fail?

3:37AM

KMT envoy Lien set for talks with Xi in Beijing

Taiwanese politicians and pundits see the meeting, to be followed by another on Tuesday with outgoing President Hu Jintao, as highly significant given that Xi succeeds Hu as state leader next...

4:59AM

How rise and falls in rankings reveal true picture

For keen China watchers reading the tea leaves of opaque mainland politics, the most interesting news item of last week came on Monday.

12:53PM

Praise for President Hu Jintao's 'common touch' in visit to hometown

Pictures showing the usually stiff and expressionless President Hu Jintao making simple gestures of compassion while visiting his home area last week have won praise among a mainland public...

5:37AM

Quickest way to get corrupt officials to change is threat of trial by microblog

From his speech at the 18th national party congress last month, it was clear that, for outgoing President Hu Jintao, fighting corruption was a priority. President-to-be Xi Jinping also appears to...

3:23AM

A BAD YEAR FOR ...

A bad year for ...

Henry Tang Ying-yen

2:36AM

POLITICS

Hu Jintao makes surprise visit to his hometown of Taizhou

Taizhou got a shock from its most famous native son yesterday when the outgoing president, Hu Jintao, made his first visit in more than three decades to the city where he was born and raised.

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