Xi Jinping on Thursday became the new President of China, completing a once-in-a-decade crucial leadership change.
Xi, 59-years-old will also be the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), 2.3 million-strong and the world's largest standing military.
Li Yuanchao was elected vice-president of China.
China, the world's most populous and one of the most economically powerful nations, choose its head once in 10 years.
Xi has succeeded Hu Jintao.
He is a graduate of the country's prestigious Tsinghua University.
He was formally elected the president barely four months after he took charge of the Communist Party of China (CPC), an event that marked the initiation of the transition process in the highly secretive nation.
The Communist Party is the ruling party in China and has nearly 70 million members in more than 3 million grassroots organizations. The CPC has established formal and informal organizations within the Chinese government and various levels and walks of life in the country.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) came to power in 1949.
The plenary meeting of the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) elected Zhang Dejiang as chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.
Known as a straight talker, frugal, hardworking and down-to-earth, Xi is the "princeling" son of Mao Zedong-era revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, one of the CPC's founding fathers.
Seen as having a zero-tolerance attitude towards corrupt officials, Xi has been a trouble-shooter.
Xi is also famous for his celebrity wife, singer Peng Liyuan, who also holds the rank of major general in the People's Liberation Army.
A well-known Chinese folk singer and actress, Peng regularly appears on Chinese state TV's New Year gala, the most watched TV program of the year. She was also appointed World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in 2011.
Xi has his task cut out since despite a double-digit annual growth rate for about three decades, the Chinese economy is now strained by a shortage of energy and resources, a wealth gap, inequitable income distribution, corruption and environmental woes.
(with inputs from IANS)
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