Leader Profile: China's President Xi Jinping

Mr Xi Jinping. Pictue: AFP News agency

He's the President of a country home to over a billion people and the world's second largest economy. He is China's President Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping was born on 15 June 1963 in Beijing. His father,  Xi Zhongxun, was one of the Communist Party's founding fathers; the party Xi Jinping has gone on to become chief of. At the age of 15, Jinping was sent to work in the remote village of Liangjiahe for seven years - like most other "intellectual youth" of the time. Mr Xi has said that working alongside the villagers between the ages of 15 and 22 was a key experience for him. He went on to study chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing - a university which has produced many of China's top leaders. Mr Xi Jinping was accepted into the Communist Party in 1974, and first served as a local party secretary, before moving up into more senior positions. Mr Xi was named party chief of Shanghai in 2007 when its former chief, Chen Liangyu, was sacked over corruption charges. He then progressed on to become the parties standing committee and was promoted to become Vice-President in 2008. Xi Jinping was seen as having a zero-tolerance attitude towards corrupted officials, and has been drafted in to trouble-shoot two corruption-scandals in the party so far. In November 2012, Mr Xi became leader of the Communist party.and one of his key focuses was a corruption crackdown. In his first speech as party leader, Jinping appeared relaxed - marking a change from the formal style of previous leaders - and he smiled and even apologized for starting late. In March 2013, Mr Xi Jinping became President of China, aged 59. He is married to folk singer Peng Liyuan - she also holds the rank of army general. She was the better know half of the couple before her husband became the countries leader.