Talk:Paramount leader

Deng's 'enddate' is not certain

I don't know if it is appropriate for Wikipedia to prescribe the 'end date' for Deng Xiaoping's tenure as 'paramount leader'. It is unsourced and totally dubious - and would need to be substantiated. Deng Xiaoping's informal authority, some scholars believe, continued well into the 1990s. Others say he lost it before his "southern tour" of 1992... so it really depends on who you ask when Deng was paramount "until". Colipon+(Talk) 04:50, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Second that. It reflects the more general issues with this article - it contains a great deal of original research by an editor who has convinced himself or herself that "paramount leader" is a real position. All that can be said reliably, based on actual pronouncements by the leadership, is that Deng was and was acknowledged to be the "paramount leader" at least until 1989, anything after that date is debatable. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 10:36, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

And I third that - looking through this article, and the bios of Deng Xiaopeng and Jiang Zemin, I see nothing that would indicate the significance of "12 October 1992" as any kind of milestone date. Where did this figure come from? Peter G Werner (talk) 02:41, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

The Communist Party's officially summary of its history regards the Deng-Jiang transition as taking place at the 4th Plenum of the Thirteenth Central Committee (Jun. 23-24 1989). I will use this date since it is at least somewhat official. Metuselth (talk) 06:59, 19 May 2023 (UTC)

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Merge proposal

I propose merging Leadership core into Paramount leader. After Hu Jintao retired, he was referred to as the "leadership core" on several occasions. At this point, the referent of the term "leadership core" completely overlapped with that of "paramount leader". Therefore, there is no need to keep a separate article for it, and it can be merged into a paragraph. Coddlebean (talk) 06:31, 2 December 2025 (UTC)

Coddlebean, no one has objected to this after three months. Is it something you're still interested in? If so, you can carry out a WP:BOLDMERGE. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 06:12, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Overuse in Wikipedia

I feel like this term is getting a bit overused in Wikipedia. Paramount leader isn't really a commonly used term in reliable sources, and using Xi's/other leaders formal titles is ok. There's also no need to replace literally every instance of him being president with this; he does some actions (such as meeting with foreign leaders) as the president of China, and there should be accessibility for our average leaders here. The Account 2 (talk) 17:15, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

• The top position held by the de facto ruler of China is General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and called "Chinese leader" in the state media.--~2026-83116 (talk) 00:30, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

  I am not opposing the use of Chinese leader. For reference, I was saying references to Xi meeting foreign leaders/going to foreign countries should highlight his status as president. He undertakes diplomatic activities as the president of China, not CCP General Secretary (except visits to other communist nations such as Vietnam and North Korea). For domestic activities, highlighting his status as CCP General Secretary is fine (except, again, when he uses presidential powers, such as symbolically signing bills). The Account 2 (talk) 09:02, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

If this is an issue in articles beyond the paramount leader article, this would be better off discussed at a noticeboard so the instances on other articles can also be considered and the issue can get more input. Thebiguglyalien (talk) 🛸 04:37, 13 January 2026 (UTC)