The chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference is the leader of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China.
The chairman is officially nominated within the CPPCC National Committee and approved by a plenary session of the National Committee. The chairman is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee, which handles the regular affairs of the body, and presides over its work. The chairman is also a member of the Chairperson's Council, which handles the day-to-day affairs of the Standing Committee. The chairman is assisted in their work by vice chairpersons and the secretary-general of the National Committee. The chairman is usually the leader of the united front system of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), being the head of the principal forum for united front work.
Since its establishment, all CPPCC chairpersons have been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP except during transition periods, being at least its 4th-ranking member. The incumbent chairman is Wang Huning, who is the 4th-ranking member of the PSC.
Roles The chairman is central to the united front system of the CCP. According to Sinologist Peter Mattis, the role "largely consists of public appearances, speaking engagements, and pressing the flesh to ensure the party’s ideas remain paramount". The chairman speaks at the department directors’ meeting () of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) held around every December or January, with the Chinese state media emphasizing the role of the chairman and their speeches over the UFWD director, who nominally presides over the meeting.
The chairman leads the Leading Party Members Group of the CPPCC, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of CCP Central Committee policies in the CPPCC. The chairman usually leads the Central Xinjiang Work Coordination Group and the Central Tibet Work Coordination Group the top CCP decision-making bodies on Xinjiang and Tibet, and is usually the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, the top CCP decision-making body regarding Taiwan. Additionally, though not required by law, the chairman also generally serves as the leader of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR), a united front organization tasked to advance unification with Taiwan.
List of chairpersons
Multiple terms in office, consecutive or otherwise, are listed and counted in the first column counts individuals and the second column (term number).
Generations of leadership
No.ChairpersonTermTerm of office Took office Left office 1 Mao Zedong 1st 9 October 1949 25 December 1954 2 Zhou Enlai 2nd 25 December 1954 29 April 1959 3rd 29 April 1959 5 January 1965 4th 5 January 1965 8 January 1976 During this interval, the office was vacant.(January 1976 – March 1978) 3 Deng Xiaoping 5th 8 March 1978 17 June 1983 4 Deng Yingchao 6th 17 June 1983 10 April 1988 5 Li Xiannian 7th 10 April 1988 21 June 1992 During this interval, the office was vacant.(June 1992 – March 1993) 6 Li Ruihuan 8th 27 March 1993 13 March 1998 9th 13 March 1998 13 March 2003 7 Jia Qinglin 10th 13 March 2003 13 March 2008 11th 13 March 2008 11 March 2013 8 Yu Zhengsheng 12th 11 March 2013 14 March 2018 9 Wang Yang 13th 14 March 2018 10 March 2023 10 Wang Huning 14th 10 March 2023 Incumbent
Timeline
References
Further reading