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Jiang Zemin 江泽民
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
In office 24 June 1989 – 15 November 2002 (&1000000000000001300000013 years, &10000000000000144000000144 days)
Deputy	Li Peng Zhu Rongji Li Ruihuan Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Zhao Ziyang
Succeeded by	Hu Jintao
President of the People's Republic of China
In office 27 March 1993 – 15 March 2003 (9 years 353 days)
Premier	Li Peng Zhu Rongji
Vice President	Rong Yiren Hu Jintao
Preceded by	Yang Shangkun
Succeeded by	Hu Jintao
Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission
In office 9 November 1989 – 19 September 2004
Preceded by	Deng Xiaoping
Succeeded by	Hu Jintao
Chairman of the PRC Central Military Commission
In office 19 March 1990 – 8 March 2005
Preceded by	Deng Xiaoping
Succeeded by	Hu Jintao
Member of the 13,14,15 th CPC Politburo Standing Committee
In office 24 June 1989 – 15 November 2002
General Secretary	Himself
Member of the National People's Congress
In office 25 March 1988 – 5 March 2008
Constituency	Shanghai At-large
Personal details
Born	(1926-08-17) 17 August 1926 (age 85) Yangzhou, Jiangsu
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Wang Yeping
Alma mater	Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Profession	Electrical engineer
Signature

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Jiang Zemin (born 17 August 1926) is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005. His long career and political prominence have led to him being described as the "core of the third generation" of Communist Party leaders.

Jiang Zemin came to power following Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, replacing Zhao Ziyang as CPC General Secretary. With the waning influence of Deng Xiaoping and the other members of Eight Elders due to old age,and with the help of old and powerful party and state leaders, former President Li Xiannian and Chen Yun Jiang effectively became the "Paramount Leader" in the 1990s. Under his leadership, China experienced substantial developmental growth with reforms, saw the peaceful return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom and Macau from Portugal, and improved its relations with the outside world while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the government. Jiang has been criticized for being too concerned about his personal image at home, and too conciliatory towards Russia and the United States abroad.^[1]

Background and ascendancy[link]

Jiang was born in the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu. His ancestral home was the Jiangwan Village (江湾村), Wuyuan County (婺源县) of the old Huizhou (徽州) in northern Jiangxi Province. This was also the hometown of a number of prominent figures in Chinese academic and intellectual establishments. Jiang grew up during the years of Japanese occupation. His uncle, Jiang Shangqing, had died fighting the Japanese in World War II and was considered to be a national hero. Jiang attended the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Central University in Japanese-occupied Nanjing before being transferred to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He graduated there in 1947 with a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.

Jiang married^[when?] Wang Yeping (Chinese: 王冶坪; pinyin: Wáng Yěpíng, born 1928), a native of Yangzhou, China. She graduated from Shanghai International Studies University.^[2] They have two sons, Jiang Mianheng and Jiang Miankang.^[2]

He claimed that he joined the Communist Party of China when he was in college^{[citation needed]}. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Jiang received his training at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in the 1950s. He also worked for Changchun's First Automobile Works. He eventually got transferred to government services, where he began to rise in prominence and rank, eventually becoming a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Minister of Electronic Industries in 1983.

In 1985 he became Mayor of Shanghai, and subsequently the Party Chief of Shanghai. Jiang received mixed reviews as mayor. Many of his critics dismissed him as a "flower vase", a Chinese term used to describe a decorative but useless person.^[3] Many credited Shanghai's growth during the period to Zhu Rongji^{[citation needed]}. Jiang was an ardent believer, during this period, in Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. In an attempt of curbing student discontent in 1986, Jiang recited the Gettysburg Address in English in front of a group of student protesters.^[4][5]

Jiang was described as having a passable command of several foreign languages,^[6] including Romanian, Russian, and English. One of his favorite activities was to engage foreign visitors in small talks on art and literature in their native language, in addition to singing foreign songs in the original language.^[6] He became friends with Allen Broussard, the African American judge who visited Shanghai in 1987 and Brazilian actress Lucelia Santos^{[citation needed]}.

Jiang was elevated to national politics in 1987, automatically becoming a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee because it is customarily dictated that the Party Chief of Shanghai would also have a seat in the Politburo. In 1989, China was in crisis over the Tiananmen Square protest, and the Central Government was in conflict on how to handle the protesters. (The opening policy, brought out by Deng Xiaoping, has been proved as a crucial and brilliant turning point in China's modern history, causing the economy to grow at an astonishing rate during the past decades.) In June, Deng Xiaoping dismissed liberal Zhao Ziyang, who was considered too conciliatory to student protestors. Jiang, at the time, was the Shanghai Party Chief, the top figure in China's new economic center. In an incident with the World Economic Herald, Jiang closed down the newspaper, deeming it harmful. The handling of the crisis in Shanghai was noticed by Beijing, and then paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping. As the protests escalated and then Party-chief Zhao Ziyang was removed from office, Jiang was selected by the Party leaders as a compromise candidate over Tianjin's Li Ruihuan, Premier Li Peng, Li Xiannian, Chen Yun, and the retired elders to become the new General Secretary. At the time he was considered to be an unlikely candidate^{[citation needed]}. Within three years Deng had transferred most power in the state, party and military to Jiang.

Early leadership[link]

Jiang was elevated to the country's top job in 1989 with a fairly small power base inside the party, and thus, very little actual power^{[citation needed]}.His most reliable allies were the powerful party elders - Chen Yun and Li Xiannian. He was believed as simply a transitional figure until a more stable successor government to Deng could be put in place. Other prominent Party and military figures like Yang Shangkun and brother Yang Baibing were believed to be planning a coup. Jiang used Deng Xiaoping as a back-up to his leadership in the first few years. Jiang, who was believed^{[citation needed]} to have a neo-conservative slant, warned against "bourgeois liberalization". Deng's belief, however, stipulated that the only solution to keeping the legitimacy of Communist rule over China was to continue the drive for modernization and economic reform, and therefore placed himself at odds with Jiang.

At the first meeting of the new Standing Committee of the Politburo, after the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Jiang criticized the previous period as "hard on the economy, soft on politics" and advocated increasing political thought work.^[7] Anne-Marie Brady writes that "Jiang Zemin was a long time political cadre with a nose for ideological work and its importance. This meeting marked the beginning of a new era in propaganda and political thought work in China." Soon after, the Central Propaganda Department was given more resources and power, "including the power to go in to the propaganda-related work units and cleanse the ranks of those who had been supportive of the democracy movement."^[7]

Deng grew critical of Jiang's leadership in 1992. During Deng's southern tours, he subtly suggested that the pace of reform was not fast enough, and the "central leadership" (i.e. Jiang) had most responsibility. Jiang grew ever more cautious, and rallied behind Deng's reforms completely. In 1993, Jiang coined the new term "socialist market economy" to move China's centrally-planned socialist economy into essentially a government-regulated capitalist market economy. It was a huge step to take in the realization of Deng's "Socialism with Chinese characteristics". At the same time, Jiang elevated many of his supporters from Shanghai to high government positions, after regaining Deng's confidence. He abolished the outdated Central Advisory Committee, an advisory body composed of revolutionary party elders. He became Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1989, followed by his election to the Presidency in March 1993.

Secretaryship and Presidency[link]

Deng Xiaoping died in early 1997, and China, emerging gradually out of the Deng-era reforms and the relative stability of the early 1990s, faced a myriad of economic and social problems. At Deng's funeral, Jiang delivered his eulogy. He had inherited a China rampant with government corruption, and regional economies growing too rapidly for the stability of the entire country. Deng's idea that "some areas can get rich before others" gave rise to an opening wealth gap between coastal regions and the hinterlands. The unprecedented economic growth had inevitably led to the closing of many state-owned enterprises (SOE's), and a staggering unemployment rate that hit 40% in some urban areas. Stock markets fluctuated greatly. The scale of rural migration into urban areas was unprecedented anywhere in the world^{[citation needed]}, and little was being done to address an ever-increasing urban-rural wealth gap. Official reports put the figure on the percentage of China's GDP being moved and abused by corrupt officials at 10%.^{[citation needed]} A chaotic environment of illegal bonds issued from civil and military officials resulted in much of the corrupted wealth to end up in foreign countries. Corruption levels had replicated, if not exceeded that of the Republican era in the 1940s. A surge in crime rates and the re-emergence of organized crime began to plague cities. A careless stance on the destruction of the environment furthered concerns voiced by intellectuals. Jiang's biggest aim in the economy was stability, and he believed that a stable government with highly centralised power would be a prerequisite, choosing to postpone political reform, which in many facets of governance exacerbated the on-going problems.^[3] Jiang continued pouring funds to develop the Special Economic Zones and coastal regions.

Jiang is believed to be the first Chinese leader to truly manipulate the medium of television to enhance his own image, gaining a reputation for charisma.^{[citation needed]} Beginning in 1996, Jiang began a series of reforms in the state-controlled media aimed at promoting the "core of leadership" under himself, and at the same time crushing some of his political opponents. The personality enhancements in the media were largely frowned upon during the Deng era, and had not been seen since Mao and Hua Guofeng's time in office in the late 1970s. The People's Daily and CCTV-1's 7 pm national news each had Jiang-related events as the front-page or top stories, a fact that remained until Hu Jintao's media administrative changes in 2006. He appeared casual in front of Western media, and gave an unprecedented interview with Mike Wallace of CBS in 2000 at Beidaihe. He would often use foreign languages in front of the camera, albeit not always comprehensible. In an encounter with a Hong Kong reporter in 2000 regarding the central government's apparent "imperial order" of supporting Tung Chee-hwa to seek a second term as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Jiang branded the Hong Kong journalists as "too simple, sometimes naive" in English.^[8] The event was shown on Hong Kong television that night, an event regarded to be in poor taste outside China.

Among the main features of Jiang’s domestic policy was his campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual practice, which once had tens of millions of followers in China. On 25 April 1999 upwards of 10,000 Falun Gong adherents protested outside the Zhongnanhai government compound to request official recognition.^[9][10] In response, Jiang declared Falun Gong to be an unprecedented threat, and declared it must be defeated.^[9][11] According to Human Rights Watch, Communist Party leaders and ruling elite were far from unified in their support for the crackdown.^[12] In June 1999, Jiang established an extralegal 6-10 Office to oversee the suppression of Falun Gong,^[13] which began in earnest on July 20 with the arrest and abduction of hundreds of Falun Gong adherents.^[12] The campaign that followed was characterized by Amnesty International as a "massive propaganda campaign" intended to discredit Falun Gong, as well as arbitrary imprisonment and coercive reeducation of adherents, sometimes resulting in death.^[14][15] Under Jiang's leadership, the crackdown on Falun Gong became part of the Chinese political ethos of "upholding stability" – much the same rhetoric employed by the party during Tiananmen in 1989.^[12] The scope and intensity of the campaign has been described as "unrivaled" in recent history,^[16] and as being reminiscent of the extremes of the Cultural Revolution.^[17][18] Falun Gong Practitioners outside China have filed dozens of largely symbolic lawsuits against Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials alleging genocide and crimes against humanity.^[17][19] In many instances, courts have refused to adjudicate the cases on the grounds of sovereign immunity. In late 2009, separate courts in Spain and Argentina indicted Jiang and other officials on the charge of torture and genocide, and asked for their arrest, although the ruling is acknowledged to be largely symbolic and unlikely to be carried out.^[20][21]

Foreign policy[link]

Jiang Zemin with Bill Clinton in 1999.

Jiang went on a groundbreaking state visit to the United States in 1997, drawing various crowds in protest from the Tibet Independence Movement to the supporters of chinese democracy movement. He made a speech at Harvard University, part of it in passable English, but could not escape questions on democracy and freedom. In the official summit meeting with US President Bill Clinton, the tone was relaxed as Jiang and Clinton sought common ground while largely ignoring areas of disagreement. Clinton would visit China in June 1998, and vowed that China and the United States were partners in the world, and not adversaries. When American-led NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, Jiang seemed to have put up a harsh stance for show at home, but in reality only performed symbolic gestures of protest, and no solid action. Much of Jiang's foreign policy was focused on international trade and economic integration. A personal friend of former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien,^[22] Jiang strengthened China's economic stature abroad, attempting to establish cordial relations with countries whose trade is largely confined to the American economic sphere.

Economic development[link]

Jiang did not specialize in economics, and in 1997 handed a most of the economic governance of the country to Zhu Rongji, who became Premier, and remained in office through the Asian financial crisis^{[citation needed]}. Under their joint leadership, Mainland China has sustained an average of 8% GDP growth annually, achieving the highest rate of per capita economic growth in major world economies, raising eyebrows around the world with its astonishing speed. This was mostly achieved by continuing the process of a transition to a market economy^{[citation needed]}. Strong party control over China was cemented by the PRC's successful bid to join the World Trade Organization and Beijing winning the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.