--- 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: 2026-02-22T11:17:05.633Z 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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In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Joyce Lee](https://time.com/author/joyce-lee/) ## Joyce Lee Sep 25, 2015 7:27 PM UTC  In this handout image provided by Ria Novosti, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping arrives in Russia ahead of the G20 summit on September 4, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this handout image provided by Ria Novosti, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping arrives in Russia ahead of the G20 summit on September 4, 2013 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Handout—Getty Images 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. 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