President of the People's Republic of China

The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China. The presidency is a part of the system of people's congress based on the principle of unified power in which the National People's Congress (NPC) functions as the highest state organ of power. The presidency is a state organ of the NPC and equivalent to, for instance, the State Council and the National Supervisory Commission, rather than a political office, unlike the premier of the State Council. The president can engage in state affairs and receive foreign diplomatic envoys on behalf of China, but to perform other head of state functions, the president needs the consent of the NPC or the NPC Standing Committee. While the presidency is not a powerful organ in itself, since 27 March 1993, the president has concurrently served as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, making the incumbent China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the armed forces.

The first state representative of the People's Republic of China was the chairman of the Central People's Government, which was established on 1 October 1949 by a decision of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. It was replaced in Constitution in 1954 with the office of state chairman. It was successively held by Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi. Liu fell into political disgrace during the Cultural Revolution, after which the presidency became vacant. The post of chairman was abolished under the Constitution of 1975, and the function of state representative was bestowed on the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee. The office was reinstated in the Constitution of 1982 but with reduced powers. Since 1982, the title's official English-language translation has been "president", although the Chinese title remains unchanged.

During the Mao era, there were no term limits for the presidency. Between 1982 and 2018, the constitution stipulated that the president could not serve more than two consecutive terms. In 2018, term limits were abolished in order to align the presidency with the position of CCP general secretary, which does not have term limits.