Here's a look at the life of Jiang Zemin.

Personal: Birth date: August 17, 1926

Birth place: Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China

Birth name: Jiang Zemin

Father: Jiang Shijun

Mother: Wu Yueqing

Marriage: Wang Yeping

Children: Jiang Miankang (male); Jiang Mianheng (male)

Education: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Electrical Engineering, 1947

Other Facts: At the age of 13, was taken in by his late uncle's family as male heir to continue the Jiang Shangqing bloodline.

Timeline: 1946 - Joins the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

1955-1956 - Trainee with the Stalin Automobile Factory in Moscow, Soviet Union.

1971-1979 - Deputy Director and later Director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the First Ministry of Machine-Building Industry.

1981-1982 - Vice Minister of the State Foreign Investment Commission.

1982 - Appointed Vice Minister of Electronics Industry and later in the year elected a member of the CCP Central Committee.

1983 - Promoted to Minister of Electronics Industry.

1985-1988 - Mayor of Shanghai.

June 1989 - Appointed General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, succeeding Zhao Ziyang.

November 1989 - Succeeds Deng Xiaoping as Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

1993-2003 - President of the People's Republic of China.

September 1997 - Unveils plan to privatize China's unprofitable state-owned enterprises.

October 28, 1997 - Meets with President Bill Clinton at the White House and attends a U.S.-China summit regarding nuclear power technology.

June 28, 1998 - In a live televised debate, discusses human rights with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Beijing.

July 16, 2001 - With Vladimir Putin in Moscow, signs the Treaty on Good Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China.

December 11, 2001 - China formally joins the World Trade Organization as the 143rd member.