French president Nicolas Sarkozy today confirmed that he will participate in beijing in a month's time after the start of the summer olympics opening ceremony.
Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, delivers a report at the 18th National Congress of the CPC
President of the United States Barack Obama and President of China Hu Jintao pledged to strengthen economic and political cooperation between the two countries.
President Hu Jintao s Speech at the Ceremony Marking the 100th Anniversary of the 1911 Revolution (in Traditional Chinese) (Chinese Edition)
(On October 9,2011, China held a grand ceremony to commemo...)
On October 9,2011, China held a grand ceremony to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the 1911 Revolution at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. President Hu Jintao attended the ceremony and gave a keynote speech. In his speech, Hu spoke highly of the revolution, reviewed the history of 100 years since 1911 revolution and expounded the historical mission to rejuvenation China. Hu also called for the peaceful reunification of the mainland and Taiwan.
Hu Jintao is a Chinese politician. He became vice president of China in 1998 and president in 2003. His administration has focused on social and economic reform.
Background
Hu Jintao was born on December 21, 1942, in Jiangyan, China. His branch of the family migrated from Jixi County, Anhui to Taizhou during his grandfather's generation. Though his father owned a small tea trading business in Taizhou, the family was relatively poor. His mother was a teacher and died when he was 7, and he was raised by an aunt. Hu's father was denounced during the Cultural Revolution, an event that (together with his relatively humble origins) apparently had a deep effect upon Hu, who diligently tried to clear his father's name.
Education
As a youth, he distinguished himself academically, and in 1965 he earned a hydroelectric engineering degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing. While a student there, he was recruited to join the CCP. Following graduation, Hu served as an assistant instructor at the school before being sent to work for a year as a construction worker in Gansu province during the Cultural Revolution. He later held several technical and political posts in the province.
Following graduation, Hu served as an assistant instructor at the school before being sent to work for a year as a construction worker in Gansu province during the Cultural Revolution. He later held several technical and political posts in the province.
From 1969 until 1974, he was employed as an engineer Sinohydro Engineering Bureau. He was promoted to the position of the Vice Senior Chief by 1974.
In 1980, he was discovered by Song Ping, the first secretary of CPC Gansu Committee as a young, knowledgeable, specialized and revolutionary communist leader. Song Ping served as his mentor and introduced him to CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang.
Within a frame of time, he moved up the ranks and was promoted the position of Communist Youth League Gansu Branch Secretary in 1982. Furthermore, he held the chair of the Director of the All-China Youth Federation.
Same year, he moved to Beijing where after a brief period of study at the Central Party School, he was appointed as the secretary of the Communist Youth League Central Committee. After two years, he became First Secretary of CY Central.
Year 1985 saw the appointed of him as the provincial Committee Secretary of Communist Party of China. In his new capacity, he brought about several educational and economic reforms.
The forced resignation of Hu Yaobang in 1987 led to his appointment as the Party Regional Committee Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1988. Additionally, he also assumed the role of a Political commissar of the local People’s Liberation Army.
The years 1988 and 1989 were marked as a period of unrest and ethnic conflict in Tibet as anti-Han Chinese sentiments brewed amongst local well-placed Tibetans. The riot enhanced largely due to increasing clashes and Tibetan uprising. He finally declared martial law in 1989 in order to curb the revolution.
His actions earned him unmatched attention from the people in the upper ranks of party power. He was one of the first regional leaders to declare his support for the central authorities.
In 1990, due to high-altitude sickness, he made a comeback to Beijing. Two years later, on the recommendation of his mentor Song Ping, he became one of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee. He was the youngest PSC member ever.
As the Secretary of the Communist Party of China, he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Central Committee and the Central Party School. He was even liable for the ideological work of CPC. It was through this position that he established networks throughout the party.
In 1998, he became Vice President of China and the following year became Vice President of the CCP Central Military Commission. Same year, he raised his voice during the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
By 2002, he succeeded Jiang as General Secretary of the CCP in the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Following this, in 2003, he was elected as the President of China by the National People’s Congress.
During his tenure as the General Secretary, he proposed several reforms for the betterment of the society. He initiated Socialist Harmonious Society which aimed at lessening inequality. For the same, he ventured to the poverty stricken areas of China for a better understanding of the situation.
Another reform that he emphasized on was causing less environmental damage and using green and environment friendly domestic products. Under his leadership, the party changed from being a revolutionary party to a ruling party. He modernized the party invoking advancement and increasing transparency in the governance.
Essentially, he strived to establish a country which was marked by tremendous economic growth, a free market, cultural enlightenment and a humanistic approach to the diverse social issues.
During his term, he stopped a number of activities and traditions which had been continuing for long and which he thought did nothing to add towards progress except corruption. Some such events were lavish send-offs and welcome of Chinese leaders visiting foreign land, yearly meetings of the cadres at Beidaihe seaside retreat and so on.
However, his tenure was marked by several downfalls as well.
In 2006, he launched the ‘8 Honours and 8 Shames’ movement to promote a more selfless and moral outlook amongst the population. Alternatively known as ‘Eight Honors and Disgraces’, it contained eight poetic lines which summarized what a good citizen should regard as an honor and what he/she should regard as a shame.
For his relentless focus and the futuristic thought, he was re-elected as General Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission on October 22, 2007. Following year, he was re-elected as President and as Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission.
In 2012, he stepped down as general secretary and also gave up his post of chairman of CMC. He was succeeded by Xi Jinping who took over both the offices.
Achievements
Hu is the first leader of the Communist Party without any significant revolutionary credentials.
He is known as a Paramount leader of China, as he held three of the most important positions together, Communist Party General Secretary 2002-2012, President 2003-2013 and Commander in Chief 2004-2012.
During the past 10 years under the leadership headed by Hu Jintao, China has achieved an extraordinary degree of success: greater, in practical terms, than any other country on Earth has managed to notch up.
Since 2002, when the present leadership took over, China's economy has more than quadrupled. There were just a few dollar billionaires; now there are 271 - more than anywhere else.
The standard of living of a clear majority of Chinese people has risen markedly.
Hu's display of holiday courtesy to Liu Bainian, general secretary of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, was one in a series of recent signals that China's rulers, despite the party's official atheism, are seeking to get along better with the increasing numbers of Chinese who find solace and inspiration in religion. The shift in tactics does not mean the Politburo has embraced religion, specialists cautioned, but it indicates a desire to incorporate believers into the party's quest for continued economic progress and more social harmony.
The move away from traditional Marxist attitudes evolved from Hu's campaign for what he calls "a harmonious socialist society." The concept, in effect an appeal for good behavior, was designed to replace the moral void left when the party long ago jettisoned historical Chinese values and, more recently, loosened the zipped-tight social strictures of communism under Mao Zedong. Religion, the party has decided, can also be useful in encouraging social harmony because it urges its followers to hew to a moral code.
"We must take full advantage of the positive role that religious figures and believers among the masses can play in promoting economic and social development," Jia Qinglin, a member of the Politburo's Standing Committee, told a meeting of government-connected religious officials Wednesday.
Hu presided over a special Politburo study session last month on the expanding role of religion in China. Two of the party's religion specialists were called in to explain the phenomenon to China's 25 most powerful men, most of whom grew up with the Marxist idea that religion is a hostile force and, in China, foreign infiltration with ties to the colonial past.
In a speech to the group, Hu seemed to break with that tradition, suggesting the moral force of religion can be harnessed for the good of the party. "We must strive to closely unite religious figures and believers among the masses around the party and government," he said, according to the official account, "and struggle together with them to build an all-around moderately prosperous society while quickening the pace toward the modernization of socialism."
Liu, the Christian leader shown in the photo with Hu, noted that the president also for the first time included discussion of religion in the party's 17th National Congress in October. Religion should no longer be considered sabotage of the party's economic and social plans, Hu told fellow party members, but rather a positive force that can be enlisted to help put the plans into effect.
"This tells people what the party's attitude toward religion is," Liu said. "The party is now more concerned about the active role that religion can play in society."
The number of religious believers in China has long been difficult to determine. Faced with the party's traditional hostility, many believers have kept their faith hidden. But a government-sponsored survey last year found the number may reach 300 million, nearly a quarter of the population.
Most of those professing belief said they identified with China's traditional religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. But those identifying themselves as Christians accounted for as many as 40 million, the survey found, most of them Protestants. Specialists have estimated the number of Catholics at 12 million, divided between those in Liu's government-sponsored Patriotic Catholic Association and those in informal churches who look on the pope as their leader.
"Religion has become such an important concept in China that the party can no longer try to understand it in the traditional Marxist framework," said Chan Kim-kwong, executive secretary of the Hong Kong Christian Council.
Part of the problem, Chan said, is that government decisions have traditionally been based on reports from the State Administration for Religious Affairs and local-level religious affairs bureaus, which often have their own interests in land or other issues connected to churches. In addition, many bureaucrats in the religion administrations ended up there after being demobilized from the military with little to go on other than Marxist doctrine.
Politics
Political observers indicate that Hu distinguished himself from his predecessor in both domestic and foreign policy. Hu's political philosophy during his leadership is summarized by three slogans — a "Harmonious Socialist Society" domestically and "Peaceful Development" internationally, the former aided by the Scientific Development Concept, which seeks integrated sets of solutions to arrays of economic, environmental and social problems, and recognizes, in inner circles, a need for cautious and gradual political reforms. The Scientific Development doctrine has been written into the Communist Party and State Constitutions in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The role of the Party has changed, as formulated by Deng Xiaoping and implemented by Jiang Zemin, from a revolutionary party to a ruling party. Hu continues the Party’s modernization, calling for both "Advancement" of the Party and its increasing transparency in governance.
What emerges from these philosophies, in the view of Hu, is a country with systematic approach to national structure and development that combines dynamic economic growth, a free market energized by a vigorous "nonpublic" (i.e., private) sector, heavy-handed political and media control, personal but not political freedoms, concern for the welfare of all citizens, cultural enlightenment, and a synergistic approach to diverse social issues (the Scientific Development Perspective) that lead, in Hu’s vision, to a "Harmonious Socialist Society". In the view of the Chinese government, these philosophies, which have created a new "China Model" of governance, serve as a legitimate alternative to the West's "Democracy Model", particularly for developing countries. In Hu’s words, "A Harmonious Socialist Society should feature democracy, the rule of law, equity, justice, sincerity, amity and vitality." Such a society, he says, will give full scope to people's talent and creativity, enable all the people to share the social wealth brought by reform and development, and forge an ever-closer relationship between the people and government. Hu even emphasized the potential of religious communities to contribute to economic and social development under the banner of "Building a Harmonious Socialist Society."
Western criticism of Hu, particularly regarding human rights, exposes his hypersensitivity to social stability but does not lay as much emphasis on his fresh commitment to address China’s multi-faceted social problems. Hu’s pragmatic, non-ideological agenda had two core values—maintaining social stability to further economic development and sustaining Chinese culture to enrich national sovereignty. In domestic policy, he seems to want more openness to the public on governmental functions and meetings. Recently, China's news agency published many Politburo Standing Committee meeting details. He also cancelled many events that are traditionally practiced, such as the lavish send-off and welcoming-back ceremonies of Chinese leaders when visiting foreign lands. Furthermore, the Chinese leadership under Hu also focused on such problems as the gap between rich and poor and uneven development between the interior and coastal regions. Both party and state seem to have moved away from a definition of development that focuses solely on GDP growth and toward a definition which includes social equality and environment effects.
In 2004, Hu gave an unprecedented showing and ordered all cadres from the five major power functions to stop the tradition of going to the Beidaihe seaside retreat for their annual summer meeting, which, before, was commonly seen as a gathering of ruling elites from both current and elder cadres to decide China's destiny, and also an unnecessary waste of public funds. The move was seen by the Chinese public as symbolic of Hu's attitude towards corruption.
In June 2007, Hu gave an important speech at the Central Party School that was indicative of his position of power and his guiding philosophies. In the speech Hu used a very populist tone to appeal to ordinary Chinese, making serious note of the recent challenges China was facing, especially with regards to income disparity. In addition, Hu noted the need for "increased democracy" in the country.
In response to the great number of social problems in China, in March 2006, Hu Jintao released the "Eight Honors and Eight Shames" as a set of moral codes to be followed by the Chinese people, and emphasized the need to spread the message to youth. Alternatively known as the "Eight Honors and Disgraces", it contained eight poetic lines which summarized what a good citizen should regard as an honor and what to regard as a shame. It has been widely regarded as one of Hu Jintao's ideological solutions to the perceived increasing lack of morality in China after Chinese economic reforms brought in a generation of Chinese predominantly concerned with earning money and power in an increasingly frail social fabric.
It has become a norm for Chinese communist leaders to make their own contributions to Marxist theory. Whether this is Hu's contribution to Marxist theory is debatable, but its general reception with the Chinese public has been moderate. Its promotion, however, is visible almost everywhere: in classroom posters, banners on the street, and electronic display boards for the preparation of the 2008 Olympics, and World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The codes differ from the ideologies of his predecessors, namely, Jiang's Three Represents, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and Mao Zedong Thought in that the focus, for the first time, has been shifted to codifying moral standards as opposed to setting social or economic goals.
Views
Quotations:
"Developed countries should support developing countries in tackling climate change. This not only is their responsibility, but also serves their long-term interests."
"Global climate change has a profound impact on the survival and development of mankind. It is a major challenge facing all countries."
"China has been committed to the independent foreign policy of peace and has developed friendship and cooperation with all countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence."
"Only reform and opening up can develop China. We must not be afraid of any risks, and not be confused by any distractions."
"We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernizing and dividing China, and ideological and cultural fields are the focal areas of their long-term infiltration."
"Building a good, stable, and productive China-U.S. relationship is in our mutual interest of our two countries and our two peoples, and also contributes to peace and development."
"Since the beginning of the 21st century, thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides, China-U.S. relationship has on the whole enjoyed steady growth. Since President Obama took office, we have maintained close contact through exchange of visits, meetings, telephone conversations and letters."
Membership
He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body, from 1992 to 2012.
Hu Jintao became the youngest member of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, and one of the youngest PSC members since the Communist Party assumed power in 1949.
Personality
Hu possessed a low-key and reserved leadership style. His tenure was characterized by collective leadership and consensus-based rule. These traits made Hu a rather enigmatic figure in the public eye. His administration was known for its focus more on technocratic competence than persona.
Connections
He tied the nuptial knot with Liu Yongqing. The couple has been blessed with two children, Hu Haifeng and Hu Haiqing.
