# 18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party

The 18th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), formally the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was elected at the 1st plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP on 15 November 2012 in the aftermath of the 18th National Congress. This electoral term was preceded by the 17th Politburo and succeeded by the 19th. Of the 25 members, seven served in the 18th Politburo Standing Committee.
At the beginning of its term, the 25 Politburo members held the following portfolios: seven members of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, six regional party leaders, two military figures, five leaders of central party organs and commissions, three Vice Premiers, the Vice President, and the head of the national trade union federation. The internal composition was similar to the previous Politburo, with only a few portfolio changes. The number of Standing Committee members decreased from nine to seven. The party leaders of the direct-controlled municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing, the province of Guangdong, and the far western region of Xinjiang were represented on the Politburo; this arrangement was unchanged from the previous Politburo. The two vice-chairmen of the Central Military Commission, the national trade union head, the head of the party's Organization and Propaganda departments, and all Vice-Premiers were represented on the Politburo; again this arrangement was totally consistent with the composition of the previous Politburo.
The long-term head of the Policy Research Office, Wang Huning, gained a seat on the Politburo. This was the first time the head of this office was represented at the Politburo level. Before starting his Politburo term, Wang sat on the Central Secretariat. Similarly, Li Zhanshu was appointed director of the party's General Office and was given a seat on the Politburo, while his predecessors generally did not enjoy this 'privilege'. The Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Meng Jianzhu, did not earn a seat on the Standing Committee, unlike his predecessor Zhou Yongkang. Moreover, no Politburo member directly took on the role that Li Changchun played as "propaganda chief" in the previous Politburo; instead, Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan was named both executive Secretary of the Secretariat in charge of party affairs, he was also seen as having 'taken over' Li Changchun's post as informal "propaganda chief". Liu Yandong, who continued her term from the 17th Politburo, was promoted from State Councilor to Vice-Premier; therefore, no State Councilors sat on the 18th Politburo. Apart from the seven Standing Committee members, only three others maintained their membership from the previous Politburo: Liu Yandong, Li Yuanchao, and Wang Yang, meaning that 15 out of the 25 members were newcomers. Li held the office of vice-president, which Xi Jinping previously held, and Wang was transferred from his post as Guangdong party secretary to become Vice Premier. Li and Wang theoretically meet the age requirements to advance one level higher to the Standing Committee at the 19th Party Congress, the only two-term Politburo members apart from Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang who met this requirement.
Two women, Sun Chunlan and Liu Yandong, sat on the Politburo, the first time this has happened since 1973 (when Ye Qun and Jiang Qing were part of the Politburo). No ethnic minorities had a seat on the council.

## Composition

Members of the Political Bureau of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party :
| Officeholder | Officeholder | 17th | 19th | Birth | PM | Birthplace | Academic attainment | Gender | Offices held |
| Fan Changlong | 范长龙 | New | Not | 1947 | 1969 | Liaoning | Not public Was given a university education at the Central Party School | Male | One Party-state office Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission of the Central Committee |
| Guo Jinlong | 郭金龙 | New | Not | 1947 | 1979 | Nanjing | Graduate Master's degree in acoustics | Male | One Party office Secretary, Beijing Municipal Party Committee Vice Chairman, Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization |
| Han Zheng | 韩正 | New | Elected | 1954 | 1979 | Shanghai | Graduate Master's degree in international political economy Undergraduate degree in politics | Male | One Party office Secretary, Shanghai Municipal Party Committee |
| Hu Chunhua | 胡春华 | New | Elected | 1963 | 1983 | Hubei | Graduate Master's degree in world economics Bachelor's degree in Chinese literature Central Party School degree in cadre training | Male | One Party office Secretary, Guangdong Provincial Party Committee |
| Li Jianguo | 李建国 | New | Not | 1946 | 1971 | Shandong | Graduate Master's degree in Chinese Language and Literature | Male | Two State offices Vice Chairman, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Secretary-General, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress |
| Li Keqiang | 李克强 | Old | Elected | 1955 | 1974 | Hefei | Graduate Doctoral degree in Marxist legal studies Undergraduate degree in chemical engineering | Male | Seven Party offices Head, Central Institutional Organisation Commission of the Central Committee Deputy Chairman, Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission of the Central Committee Deputy Chairman, Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission of the Central Committee Deputy Chairman, Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission of the Central Committee State offices Premier, State Council of the People's Republic of China Head, State Council Leading Party Members Group Head, Central Leading Group for Climate Change and Emissions Reduction |
| Li Yuanchao | 李源潮 | Old | Not | 1950 | 1978 | Jiangsu | Graduate Doctoral degree in Marxist legal studies Master's degree in mathematics Master's degree in management science Graduate programme in scientific socialism | Male | One State office Vice President of the People's Republic of China |
| Li Zhanshu | 栗战书 | New | Elected | 1950 | 1975 | Hebei | Graduate Master's degree in business administration Graduate programme in business economics Undergraduate degree in politics | Male | One Party office Head, General Office of the Central Committee |
| Liu Qibao | 刘奇葆 | New | Not | 1953 | 1971 | Anhui | Graduate Master's degree in National economic planning and management Undergraduate degree in history | Male | One Party office Head, Publicity Department of the Central Committee |
| Liu Yandong | 刘延东 | Old | Not | 1945 | 1964 | Jiangsu | Graduate Master's degree in sociology | Female | One State office Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China |
| Liu Yunshan | 刘云山 | Old | Not | 1947 | 1971 | Shanxi | Not public Was given a university education at the Central Party School | Male | Three Party offices First-ranked secretary, Central Committee Secretariat President, Central Party School of the Central Committee Chairman, Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization |
| Ma Kai | 马凯 | New | Not | 1946 | 1965 | Shanghai | Graduate Master's degree in politics | Male | One State office Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China |
| Meng Jianzhu | 孟建柱 | New | Not | 1947 | 1968 | Jiangsu | Graduate Master's degree in engineering | Male | One Party office Secretary, Central Politics and Law Commission of the Central Committee |
| Sun Chunlan | 孙春兰 | New | Elected | 1950 | 1973 | Hebei | Graduate Doctoral degree in political science Doctoral degree in decision-making and management Undergraduate degree in economic management | Female | One Party office Head, United Front Work Department of the Central Committee |
| Sun Zhengcai | 孙政才 | New | Removed | 1963 | 1988 | Shandong | Graduate Doctoral degree in agricultural science Graduate programme in Marxist legal studies | Male | One Party office Secretary, Chongqing Municipal Party Committee |
| Wang Huning | 王沪宁 | New | Elected | 1955 | 1984 | Shanghai | Graduate Master's degree in Marxist legal studies Graduate programme in international politics Undergraduate degree in French | Male | One Party office Head, Central Policy Research Office of the Central Committee |
| Wang Qishan | 王岐山 | Old | Not | 1948 | 1983 | Shanxi | Undergraduate Undergraduate degree in history | Male | Two Party office Secretary, Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Head, Central Leading Group for Inspection Work |
| Wang Yang | 汪洋 | Old | Elected | 1955 | 1975 | Anhui | Graduate Master's degree in management science Bachelor's degree in public administration Programme in political economy | Male | One State office Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China |
| Xi Jinping | 习近平 | Old | Elected | 1953 | 1974 | Beijing | Graduate Doctoral degree in Marxist legal studies Undergraduate degree in chemical engineering | Male | Eleven Party offices General Secretary, Central Committee Chairman, National Security Commission of the Central Committee Chairman, Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission of the Central Committee Head, Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs of the Central Committee Head, Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Work of the Central Committee Head, Central Leading Group for Network Security and Information Technology of the Central Committee Military offices Chairman, Central Military Commission Commander-in-chief, Joint Operations Command Center of the Central Military Commission of the People's Liberation Army Head, Leading Group for National Defence and Military Reform of the Central Military Commission Head, Office of the Central Integrated Military-Civilian Development Committee State offices President of the People's Republic of China |
| Xu Qiliang | 许其亮 | New | Elected | 1950 | 1967 | Shandong | Graduate Master's degree in military science | Male | One Party-state office Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission of the Central Committee |
| Yu Zhengsheng | 俞正声 | Old | Not | 1945 | 1964 | Zhejiang | Graduate Graduate programme in Missile engineering | Male | Two Organisational office Chairman, National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chairman, China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification |
| Zhang Chunxian | 张春贤 | New | Not | 1953 | 1973 | Henan | Graduate Master's degree in management science Undergraduate in engineering | Male | One Party office Secretary, Xinjiang Provincial Party Committee |
| Zhang Dejiang | 张德江 | Old | Not | 1946 | 1971 | Liaoning | Graduate Graduate programme in world economics Undergraduate degree in Korean | Male | Two Party office Deputy Chairman, National Security Commission of the Central Committee State office Chairman, Standing Committee of the National People's Congress |
| Zhang Gaoli | 张高丽 | Old | Not | 1946 | 1973 | Fujian | Graduate Graduate programme in economics | Male | Nine Party offices Deputy Head, Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms State offices First-ranked Vice Premier, State Council of the People's Republic of China Deputy Head, National Leading Group for Climate Change and for Energy Conservation & Reduction of Pollution Discharge Head, Leading Group for Rejuvenating the Northeast Region and Other Old Industrial Bases Head, Leading Group for Western Region Development Head, Leading Group for the 1st Nationwide Geography Conditions Survey Head, Leading Group for Nationwide Economy Census Head, Office of South-to-North Water Diversion Project Deputy Chairman, National Energy Commission |
| Zhao Leji | 赵乐际 | New | Elected | 1957 | 1975 | Shandong | Graduate Graduate programme in currency and banking Undergraduate degree in philosophy | Male | One Party office Head, Organization Department of the Central Committee |