--- title: China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping description: His legacy is still undetermined canonical: https://time.com/4050419/xi-jinping-china-president/ author: Joyce Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-25T19:27:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:32:07.806Z article:section: History og:title: Meet China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping og:description: He is one of the most powerful leaders in modern Chinese history og:url: https://time.com/4050419/xi-jinping-china-president/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9280796b222903c3/698862b3cd1bba1f4a6fd133/gettyimages-179480220.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Arrival of Heads of Delegations for G20 Leaders Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping twitter:description: He is one of the most powerful leaders in modern Chinese history twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9280796b222903c3/698862b3cd1bba1f4a6fd133/gettyimages-179480220.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=d26c5617-6c4f-473b-9cd0-96a2b6abeb0c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=d26c5617-6c4f-473b-9cd0-96a2b6abeb0c&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping [Watch (HLS stream): China's Most Powerful Man: Xi Jinping](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/twYpQ2SN.m3u8) (2:00)  _Published 2015-09-25. This is Chinese president Xi Jinping and he might be one of China's most powerful leaders in history._ by [Joyce Lee](https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/) ## Joyce Lee Sep 25, 2015 7:27 PM UTC This is Chinese president Xi Jinping and he might be one of China's most powerful leaders in history. by [Joyce Lee](https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/) ## Joyce Lee Sep 25, 2015 7:27 PM UTC President Xi Jinping might become one of the most consequential leaders in Chinese history. In a rare concentration of power, Xi is the country’s military chief, president, and the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. When Parliament elected Xi in 2012, he won 99.87% of the vote—only four out of 3,000 members voted against him. But Mao Zedong, the “father” of the People’s Republic of China, and Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the country’s capitalist economy, still overshadow Xi. His legacy remains uncertain as China’s recent economic turmoil and the Tianjin explosions reveal potential problems for his governance. Watch the video above to learn about China’s leaders through history. ## Transcript This is Chinese President, Xi Jinping. He may just be one of the most powerful leaders in Chinese history. Affectionately called Uncle Xi, Xi consolidated a lot of power when he took over in 2012. How much? He's China's president, its military chief, and the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. It's been years since China had a leader with so centralized power. But it's easier to understand his legacy when compared to that of China's previous leaders, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took power in China in 1949 Now put in sweeping socialist changes and place all industries and agriculture under state control. His harsh policies were disastrous and led to the deaths of millions, but still Mao is celebrated to this day as the father of the People's Republic. [ MUSIC ] Fast forward to 1978, That's when Deng took the helm. He quickly earned the reputation of reformer. he threw out Mao's socialist agenda to experiment with capitalism. China's explosive economic growth is chiefly credited to Deng's reforms. He was also in charge when this renowned photo was taken of a lone man in Tiananmen Square walking the path of four tanks. Deng was in power during the Tiananmen massacre. Massacre. When the government sent in troops to cross a peaceful student movement. [ CROSSTALK ] But it's a communist praised mouthpiece that explained the legacies of the different leaders' past. [ UNKNOWN ] they say made China stand up on it's feet. [ UNKNOWN ] made China rich. And [ UNKNOWN ] who made China strong. Still Xi Jinping may be less strong than he appears. China's economy just took a nosedive. And China's Yuan was devalued by 2 %. In years to come, Xi Jinping will have to prove that China can make the Asian- Pacific the world's new economic center. 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