Chairman of the Communist Party of China
From 1954 to 1968, the "ex officio" commander-in-chief was the Chairman of the People's Republic of China (head of state), in his capacity as Chairman of the National Defence Council. However, a similar command structure inside the communist party known as the Party Central Military Commission, whose Chairman was the "de facto" Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Mao Zedong, who the Chairman of the Communist Party of China served as the paramount leader. Chairman of the National Defence Council included Liu Shaoqi, who from 1959 to 1968, was PRC's president. Even though the President was the de jure supreme commander of the military, it nonetheless was a subordinate of the CMC Chairman.