born Aug. 17, 1926, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China
General secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 19892002) and president of China (19932003).
He started his career in Shanghai as an engineer, received training abroad, and gradually rose through the ranks of the CCP. He was named mayor of Shanghai in 1985 and chairman of China's Central Military Commission in 1989. It is thought that Jiang was a compromise candidate to replace Zhao Ziyang as general secretary in June 1989 following the Tiananmen Square incident. He combined a commitment to continued free-market reform with a determination to preserve the CCP's monopoly on political power. After serving the maximum two five-year terms as president, Jiang was succeeded by Hu Jintao. He remained in charge of the Central Military Commission until stepping down in favour of Hu in 2004.