Some key events in Xi’s rise as country’s leader for life
> 1953 — Xi Jinping is second son of Xi Zhongxun, an associate of People’s Republic founder Mao Zedong. > 1975 — Xi enters prestigious Tsinghua University, leaving his job as Communist Party branch secretary. > 1979 — He takes a position in the military as secretary to the secretary general of the Central Military Commission. > 1982 — The Chinese leader is made deputy party secretary of Baoding. > 1987 — Xi marries Peng Liyuan, a singer with the People’s Liberation Arts troupe who was a familiar face to television audiences for her soulful renderings of patriotic folk songs. > 1990s — Starting from the 1980s and into the 2000s, the Chinese leader held a series of party, government and military positions, largely in the eastern coastal province of Fujian facing Taiwan. > 2007 — He is elevated to the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. 2012 — Xi is named party secretary general and chairman of the party commission. He also accumulates the titles of president and head of the government commissions overseeing the military. > 2016 — The party bestows on Xi the wholly ceremonial yet highly significant title of “core” of the fifth generation of Chinese leaders. > 2017 — The Chinese leader sees his personal political philosophy — “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era” — entered into the party constitution alongside those of his predecessors. > 2018 — The National People’s Congress prepares to amend China’s constitution to remove the previous limit of two consecutive 5-year terms from the presidency and vice presidency.