President of the People's Republic of China (1993 -), General Secretary
of the Chinese Communist Party (1989 -), Chairman of the Central
Military Commission China (1989 -).
Jiang was born the son of a intellectual. He attended Shanghai Jiaotong
University, one of the pretigious polytechnic universities in China.
Due to his political consciouness and shrewdness, he was never purged
during the Mao era, and by early eighties he was already holding
ministerial offices. He was deputy minister and minister of foreign
trade (1982-1985), mayor of Shanghai (1985-87) and party secretary of
Shanghai (1987-89), he was appointed to the politburo of the Communist
Party in 1987. After the military suppression in June 4, 1989 and the
subsequent fall of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, Jiang was named by
the "party elders" inclding Deng Xiaoping as general secretary because
of his subservience to them. His position was further strengthened in
1993 when he was elected president.