History
After the implementation of the Constitution of People's Republic of China in 1954, Mao Zedong, who had served as the Chairman of the Central People's Government since 1949, was selected Chairman of the People's Republic of China. Mao, who was also Chairman of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, was clearly the most powerful person in China. In the Constitution of 1954, the President (officially translated as "Chairman") of the PRC was intended to be quite powerful, serving both as the Head of State, and the nominal Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The president had special powers to call upon emergency meetings during a crisis or concerns of national security.
After his failures in the Great Leap Forward, Mao decided to give up the State presidency in 1959. He was succeeded to this post by Liu Shaoqi, who along with Premier Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, took on a more active role in government to curb the excesses of the Great Leap Forward and restore Soviet-based centrally planned economy. However, in 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to re-assert his personal power and overthrow the Liu government. The state and party apparatus broke down and in 1968, Chairman Liu Shaoqi was arrested and humiliated by the Red Guards.
Chairman Liu died in prison and he was not replaced. Mao concentrated powers centrally into the hands of the Party Chairman, and the CMC Chairman, which were further exercised by various Revolutionary Committees. The ceremonial duties associated with the Head of State were subsequently passed to the Chairman of the National People's Congress, the national legislature. The exact reason why Mao Zedong refused to reinstate the presidency was unclear, however it is now known that Mao did not want his political struggle with Liu Shaoqi to be remembered as his attempt to claim the title of the presidency for himself. Lin Biao, then China's number-two figure, advocated for the reinstatement of the position of President, with Mao taking the position and himself becoming Vice-President. Mao later considered this to be a threat to his power, as the Vice-President can legally succeed the President in the event of the latter's death. But during the early 1980s, it became clearer that China needed a person to serve as the Head of State, albeit completely ceremonial. Soong Ching-ling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen and PRC Acting President twice (from 1968 to 1975 and 1976 to 1978) and former Vice-President (the first woman to hold this position), was named to be the Honorary President of the PRC before the passage of the Constitution of 1982.
In the Constitution of 1982, the President was conceived of as a figurehead head of state with actual state power resting in the hands of the Premier of the People's Republic of China and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, and all three posts were designed to be held by separate people. The President therefore held minor responsibilities such as greeting foreign dignitaries and signing the appointment of embassy staff, and did not intervene in the affairs of the State Council or the Party. In the original 1982 Constitution plan, the Party would develop policy, the state would execute it, and the power would be divided to prevent a cult of personality from forming as it did with the case of Mao Zedong. Thus in 1982, China perceivably had four main leaders: Hu Yaobang, the Party General Secretary; Zhao Ziyang, the Premier; Li Xiannian, the President; and Deng Xiaoping, the "Paramount Leader", holding title of the CMC Chairman.
In the 1990s, the experiment of separating party and state posts, which led to bitter division, was terminated, and in 1993, the post of President was taken by Jiang Zemin, who as General Secretary of the Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission made the office of the President a powerful position. When Jiang Zemin stepped down in 2003, the offices of General Secretary and President were once again both given to one man, then Vice-President Hu Jintao.
Read more about this topic: President Of The People's Republic Of China
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