A report on Paramount leader, Chinese Communist Party, Deng Xiaoping and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

The paramount leader, also named supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Government and People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is an informal term for the most prominent political leader in China.

Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997), also known by his courtesy name Xixian (希贤), was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to 1992.

The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the paramount leader of China.

The officeholders are usually General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The general secretary is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the highest-ranking official within the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The term gained prominence during the era of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1989), when he was able to wield political power without necessarily holding any official or formally significant party or government positions at any given time (head of state, head of government or CCP General Secretary).

Born in the province of Sichuan in the Qing dynasty, Deng studied and worked in France in the 1920s, where he became a follower of Marxism–Leninism and joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1924.

Since its revival in 1982, the post of general secretary has been the highest office in the CCP, though it did not become the most powerful post until Deng Xiaoping's retirement in 1990.

During the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping directed the CCP away from Maoist orthodoxy and towards a policy of economic liberalization.

Today the party's leader holds the offices of general secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) (responsible for military affairs), and State President (a largely ceremonial position).

Because of these posts, the party leader is seen as the country's paramount leader.

He participated in the historic emergency session on 7 August 1927 in which, by Soviet instruction, the Party dismissed its founder Chen Duxiu, and Qu Qiubai became the general secretary.