President of China

President of the People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国主席
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent Xi Jinping since 14 March 2013
Office of the President of the People's Republic of China
Style	Mr. President (主席) (informal) His Excellency (阁下) (diplomatic)
Type	State representative[1]
Status	National leader level official
Reports to	National People's Congress and its Standing Committee
Residence	West Building, Zhongnanhai
Seat	Beijing
Nominator	Presidium of the National People's Congress
Appointer	National People's Congress
Term length	Five years, renewable with no-limit
Constituting instrument	Constitution of China
Precursor	Chairman of the Central People's Government (1949–1954)
Formation	1 January 1912; 112 years ago (1912-01-01) (Republican era) 27 September 1954; 70 years ago (1954-09-27) (current form)
First holder	Sun Yat-sen (Republican era) Mao Zedong (current form)
Abolished	1975–1982
Deputy	Vice President
Salary	CN¥136,620 per annum est. (2015)[2]

The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. While the office has many of the characteristics of a head of state, the Constitution of China does not define it as such. However, since 1993, the post has been held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is China's paramount leader.

The presidency is a part of system of people's congress based on the principle of unified power in which the National People's Congress (NPC) functions as the only branch of government and as the highest state organ of power. The presidency is a state organ of the NPC and equivalent to, for instance, the State Council and the National Supervisory Commission, rather than a political office, unlike the premier of the State Council. Together with the NPC Standing Committee, the presidency performs certain heads of state functions. The president can engage in state affairs with the consent of the NPC Standing Committee. While the presidency is not a powerful organ in itself, since 27 March 1993, the president has concurrently served as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), making the incumbent China's paramount leader and commander-in-chief.

The first state representative of China dates back to the Republican era when the post was held by Sun Yat-sen upon the establishment of the Republic on 1 January 1912. The presidency in its current form was the chairman of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, which was established on 1 October 1949 by a decision of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. It was replaced in Constitution in 1954 with the office of state chairman. It was successively held by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. Liu fell into political disgrace during the Cultural Revolution, after which the presidency became vacant. The post of chairman was abolished under the Constitution of 1975, and the function of state representative was bestowed on the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee. The office was reinstated in the Constitution of 1982 but with reduced powers and a stipulation that the president could not serve more than two consecutive terms. The term limits were abolished in 2018. Since 1982, the title's official English-language translation has been "president", although the Chinese title remains unchanged.^{[note 1]}

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