Hu Jintao

1942 - Born in Jiangyan, Jiangsu on the 21st of December.

1964 - He joined the Communist Party of China, just prior to the Cultural Revolution.

1968 - He was transferred to Gansu and worked for a hydro-power station.

1969- 1974 - He worked for Sinohydro Engineering Bureau No 4, as an engineer.

         - He was transferred to the Construction Department of Gansu as a secretary.

1980 - He was promoted to deputy director of Gansu's Ministry of Construction.

1981 - He along with Deng Xiaoping's daughter Deng Nan and Hu Yaobang's son Hu Deping, were trained in the Central Party School in Beijing.

1982 - He was promoted to the position of Communist Youth League Gansu Branch Secretary.

1985 - He was transferred to Guizhou as the Communist Party of China Guizhou Committee Secretary, which began his time as a provincial governor.

1987 - He Jintao handled the local students protest parallel to the Democracy Wall carefully, whereas in Beijing similar protests resulted in Hu Yaobang's forced resignation.

1988 - He was appointed Party Chief of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

1989 - He was responsible for a political crackdown that lead to the deaths of several hundred Tibetan activists.

         - He also worked towards some liberalisation of cultural activities but was believed to have been involved in the unexpected death of the Panchen Lama, Tibet's second highest religious leader

1993 - He took charge of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, which oversaw day-to-day operations of the Central Committee, and the Central Party School, which was convenient for him to bring up his own supporters among senior CPC cadres.

1998 - He became Vice-President of China, and Jiang wanted Hu to play a more active role in foreign affairs.

1999 - He became China's leading voice during the US bombings of China's embassy in Belgrade.

2003 - President of China

2004 - He gave an unprecedented showing and ordered all cadres from the five major power functions to stop the tradition of going to the Beidaihe seaside retreat for their annual summer meeting which, before, was commonly seen as a gathering of ruling elites from both current and elder cadres to decide China's destiny, and also an unnecessary waste of public funds.

         - Chairman of Central Military Commission of China.

2006 - He has been promoting Jiang's legacy by beginning a mass campaign in August promoting the Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, a collection of speeches and essays documenting Jiang's philosophies.