Xi Jinping
1953– · Chinese (Beijing) · 21st Century China
Known for: President of China who consolidated more power than any leader since Mao—Belt and Road Initiative, tech crackdown, assertive foreign policy
Xi Jinping is the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. He abolished presidential term limits, launched the anti-corruption campaign (purging rivals while calling it reform), initiated the Belt and Road Initiative (the largest infrastructure project in history), cracked down on Hong Kong's autonomy, and positioned China as a peer competitor to the United States.
He's presided over China's rise as a global technological power while also increasing surveillance, persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and suppression of dissent. His 'Xi Jinping Thought' is now enshrined in the Chinese constitution alongside Mao's.
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