HONG KONG -- The decision by 78-year-old former President Jiang Zemin to step down as head of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission in favor of 61-year-old Hu Jintao, his successor as party and state leader, is a milestone in China's political development, marking as it does the completion of the first peaceful political transition in the 55-year history of the People's Republic of China. But now the hard work begins.
The death of Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976 was followed by a palace coup in which his widow, Jiang Qing, and several of her closest political associates were arrested. This paved the way for Deng Xiaoping, who had twice been purged by Mao, to return to power by shunting aside Hua Guofeng, Mao's chosen heir. Deng scrapped class struggle, which had been so close to Mao's heart, and focused on economic development, which led to a period of rapid growth for China that is now in its 26th year.
The pragmatic Deng tried to rid China of such practices as lifelong tenure in office and insisted on term limits and a retirement age. He picked first Hu Yaobang and then Zhao Ziyang as his political successor, but found each man too liberal for his taste. Finally, in the wake of the Tiananmen Square military crackdown, he chose Jiang Zemin to be leader of the third generation of the Chinese revolution. Deng also chose Hu Jintao as the leader of the fourth generation.