Generations of Chinese Leadership - Third Generation

Third Generation

The transition towards the third generation of leaders began in 1989 when, in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Deng Xiaoping nominated Jiang Zemin to succeed Zhao Ziyang as formal leader of the Communist Party of China. Three months after the end of the protests, in September 1989, Deng resigned from his last major party post, that of chairman of the central military committee. However, it was not until 1992, with the election of the new Politburo standing committee, that the era of the "third generation" is regarded to have begun.

Thus, in official discourse, the "third generation" lasted from 1992 to 2003, with Jiang Zemin as core, and other leaders including Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Qiao Shi, Li Ruihuan. These leaders were born before the revolution from 1924 to 1934 but were educated afterwards before the Sino-Soviet split. Most of them received education in the Soviet Union as engineers and entered the party initially as factory managers. Unlike their predecessors, there is a split between the political and military leadership. Their formative experiences included the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Korean War. This generation continued economic development while China saw the emergence of various serious social issues. The political ideological innovation officially associated with this period was Jiang's "Three Represents".

The initial members of the third generation were mostly survivors from before 1989, including Jiang Zemin, Li Peng (who continued as premier), Qiao Shi and Li Ruihuan. Notable changes to the leadership were the elevation of Zhu Rongji in place of Li Peng as premier in 1998 and the elevation of Hu Jintao as vice president. For the first time since 1982, the three centres of power of the presidency, the party general secretaryship and the chairmanship of the central military commission were concentrated in a single person, Jiang Zemin. This enabled him to declare himself the "core" of the third generation of leadership.

During this period, while Deng Xiaoping had retired from all leadership positions, he remained influential. In 1992, Deng's informal intervention ensured that market-orientated reforms were not halted by resurgent conservative elements. Deng also played an important role in nominating Hu Jintao as Jiang's successor as party secretary.