User:PalaceGuard008/Paramount leader
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The paramount leader in modern Chinese history and politics is a term used to describe certain leaders of the Communist Party of China and government of the People's Republic of China. The most common application is to Deng Xiaoping during the late 1970s and the 1980s, who, without holding the highest posts of either party or government, was nevertheless acknowledged both within the Communist Party and by outside observers as the real paramount personality in China.
While China was ruled by strongman regimes in various periods of the 20th century, the first leader usually described as a "paramount leader" is Mao Zedong. From 1949, and especially from 1966 until his death in 1976, Mao was the unquestioned paramount leader of China.
Several years after Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping became acknowledged as the "paramount leader" of China. While Deng did not hold the highest posts or either party or government, he was the political leader of the Communist Party, and successive party leaders up to 1989 acknowledged that the party's protocol was that Deng was to be consulted on important matters of party and state. Deng formally retired in late 1989, and commentators differ on when his role as "paramount leader" should be regarded as having ended. On the one hand, Deng's influence in day-to-day government appear to have decreased after his retirement. On the other hand, he continued to exert occasional but important influence on the course of government policy, such as his 1992 southern tour.