General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Paramount leader

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.

Hu Jintao (Mandarin pronunciation: ; born 21 December 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) from 2004 to 2012.

Hu was the paramount leader of China from 2004 to 2012.

Xi Jinping (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been serving as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) since 2012, and President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 2013.

Xi has been the paramount leader of China, the most prominent political leader in the People's Republic of China, since 2012.

However, as a matter of convention, the presidency is held simultaneously by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who also serves as the chairman of the Central Military Commission, thus is often the paramount leader of 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.

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.

The Xi Jinping Administration of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially called the "CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as General Secretary" between 2012 and 2016, and "CCP Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core" since 2016, has been said to begin after the progressive accumulation of power by Xi Jinping, who succeeded Hu Jintao as CCP General Secretary and Paramount leader in 2012 and later in 2016 was proclaimed the Party's 4th leadership core, following only Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin.

The position was established at the 8th National Congress in 1945 and abolished at the 12th National Congress in 1982, being replaced by the general secretary.

Although Hua Guofeng succeeded Mao as party chairman, by 1978 he had lost power to vice chairman Deng Xiaoping, who at that point had become the de facto leader of China.

The officeholder is usually the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as the paramount leader.

Individuals can hold multiple top leadership titles but also be unable to claim to be the de facto head as was the case with Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Hua Guofeng, when "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping was present.

2) General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee

The leaders of communist parties often hold the title of general secretary (e.g. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party) and the officeholder is usually considered the paramount leader of China.