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Jiang Zemin—Later Years

At the first session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), held on March 15, 2004 in Beijing, Jiang Zemin (江泽民) was re-elected to the post as chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People's Republic of China.

Jiang was relieved of duties of general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, a post he had held for 13 years, and he also relinquished the State presidency, which he had held for 10 years. In November 2003, he bowed out of the CPC Central Committee at the 16th CPC National Congress.

As far back as the run-up to the 16th Party congress, Jiang had offered to leave his post as general secretary and member of the Party Central Committee to make way for younger people and so accelerate the pace of generational transition of the high-level leadership of the Party and the state for the sake of long-term development of the cause of the Party and State and long-term peace and stability of the Party and state.

The magnanimous proposal demonstrated both Jiang's foresight for the development of the cause of the Party and the State and his broad-mindedness as a Marxist statesman. The Chinese Communist Party, the nation and the State owe the smooth transition of the top leadership to his example. This is widely held as a "hallmark of the sophistication of the world's largest ruling party that has a history of 81 years."

But, in view of the complex and changing international situation and the difficult tasks that still lie ahead for the building of China's national defense and the army, the first plenum of the 16th CPC Central Committee took the decision to allow Jiang to continue as chairman of the CPC's Central Military Commission. Jiang pledged full support for the work of the new collective leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Hu Jintao as the general secretary. Jiang Zemin commands a wide ranging knowledge and is solidly grounded culturally.

He is widely read, especially on the latest economic, scientific and technical, political and cultural fronts. Something of a linguist, he has a good command of English, Russian and Romanian, and knows some German, Japanese and Spanish. He often recites, as at his fingertips, famous quotes from ancient Chinese philosophers or lines from ancient Chinese poetry. He is a lover of Chinese music and is also fond of the symphonies of Mozart, Beethoven and other Western masters of music.

In his leisure time, Jiang likes to try his hand at such traditional Chinese musical instruments as er'hu (two-stringed instrument) and dizi (bamboo flute) and such Western musical instruments as piano. Works of art, both Chinese and foreign, are the common wealth of humanity, he would say.

Jiang has a warm, harmonious and happy family. He and his wife Wang Yeping have two sons, a grandson and a granddaughter.

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