Hu Jintao

Article

Hu Jintao is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 4 times across 4 issues between April 06, 2022 and December 07, 2023. The archive places it in contexts such as “Paramount Leader Hu Jintao was a hydroelectric engineer”; “he stepped down in favor of Hu Jintao”; “Hu Jintao retired when his term ran out”. It most often appears alongside China, Jiang Zemin, Barack Obama.

Metadata

  • Category: People
  • Mention count: 4
  • Issue count: 4
  • First seen: April 06, 2022
  • Last seen: December 07, 2023

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

April 06, 2022 · Original source
When Xi Jinping first joined the Politburo Standing Committee in 2008, eight of its nine members were engineers. Paramount Leader Hu Jintao was a hydroelectric engineer. His second-in-command Wen Jiabao was a geological engineer. There were two electrical engineers, a petroleum engineer, a radio engineer, and two chemical engineers (including Xi himself). The only non-engineer was Li Keqiang, an economist.
When Jiang reached his term limit, he stepped down in favor of Hu Jintao, former secretary of the Communist Youth League. The CYLers formed a power bloc distinct from the Shanghai Gang, drawing more on inland rural commoners. The two blocs may have made some kind of power-sharing agreement behind closed doors, probably involving a pledge to alternate who got the Paramount Leader position
Hu Jintao retired when his term ran out, it was the Shanghai Gang’s turn to pick a new leader, and they picked Xi. Why? It all happened behind closed doors, but we can guess at their reasoning.
April 13, 2022 · Original source
In Fujian, Xi made efforts to attract investment from Taiwan and to strengthen the private sector of the provincial economy. In February 2000, he and then-provincial Party Secretary Chen Mingyi were called before the top members of Central Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP – General Secretary Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, Vice-President Hu Jintao and Discipline Inspection Secretary Wei Jianxing – to explain aspects of the Yuanhua scandal. In 2002, Xi left Fujian and took up leading political positions in neighbouring Zhejiang. He eventually took over as provincial Party Committee Secretary after several months as acting governor, occupying a top provincial office for the first time in his career. In 2002, he was elected a full member of the 16th Central Committee, marking his ascension to the national stage.
April 28, 2022 · Original source
I agree with the theory about anti-corruption and personnel retirement timing giving Xi a lucky break, but don't give much credence to the Tsinghua connection, since Hu Jintao was also a Tsinghua grad.
December 07, 2023 · Original source
The early 2010s were good for autocracy. China, recently led by capable yet restrained leaders like Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, looked poised to overtake the West. Putin’s Russia had overcome its post-Soviet chaos and was winning victories abroad. And Dubai had just finished building the world’s tallest skyscraper, right next to the world’s biggest mall, world’s biggest artificial island community, etc.