Hua Guofeng 11th CC · Party Chairman, Premier & CMC Chair (1976–80/81)
The only CCP leader to simultaneously hold all three top posts. He arrested the Gang of Four weeks after Mao’s death (Sept. 1976), then was gradually outmaneuvered: Deng took the CMC chairmanship circa 1980, and the 6th Plenary of the 11th CC (June 1981) formally removed him as Party Chairman. Some skepticism is warranted when attributing the 11th CC cohort to Hua: Deng Xiaoping was rehabilitated and returned to the Politburo in July 1977, before the 11th Congress even convened, and exercised substantial influence over appointments. The 11th CC likely reflects a post-Gang-of-Four settlement and Deng’s growing grip as much as it does any Hua political network.
Deng Xiaoping 12th–13th CC · CMC Chairman (CCP: 1981–89; State: 1983–90)
Never General Secretary or Premier. Deng’s formal authority rested on the CMC chairmanship; he withdrew from the Politburo and Central Committee entirely at the 13th Congress (1987) while retaining undisputed paramount influence. He was officially termed the “core of the second generation,” a political formulation, not a legal title, introduced around 1989, partly to simultaneously shore up Jiang Zemin as “core of the third generation.” Deng personally selected Jiang in 1989 and pre-designated Hu Jintao as the next successor in 1992.
Jiang Zemin 14th–15th CC · General Secretary (1989–2002)
Selected by Deng after two consecutive General Secretaries fell: Hu Yaobang (ousted Jan. 1987 under pressure for excessive liberalism, died Apr. 1989) and Zhao Ziyang (removed after opposing the Tiananmen crackdown, June 1989). Jiang, then Shanghai’s Party Secretary, was appointed GS on June 24, 1989.
Hu Jintao 16th–17th CC · General Secretary (2002–12)
Placed on the PBSC at the 14th Congress (1992) as Deng’s pre-designated fourth-generation successor, then served a decade-long apprenticeship under Jiang before formally assuming the General Secretaryship in November 2002. Notably, Hu was never officially designated “core”; that formulation was skipped for his tenure and next applied to Xi Jinping.