Beijing, Nov 14: China's President for a decade Hu Jintao today stepped down from power, leaving a stamp of his own with the ruling Communist Party incorporating his theory of “Scientific Outlook” in its constitution, figuring along theories of top leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
An amendment to the Constitution of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was approved on the last day of the leadership change Congress making the Scientific Outlook on Development as part of the Party's guide for action.
Unanimously agreed on by 2270 delegates to the congress, the amendment juxtaposes the Scientific Outlook on Development along with Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents credited to Hu's predecessor Jiang Zemin.
Hailing the Outlook as “the crystallisation of the collective wisdom of the CPC and a long-term guiding ideology the Party must adhere to”, the resolution said it represents the Party's latest achievement in adapting Marxism to China's conditions.
Hu, 69, a strong follower of Deng's reform policies, discarding Mao's hard-line Marxist policies opened up China's economy in the last ten years even while keeping a strong lid on the political reforms, and consolidated his hold on the party.
His decade-long reign ended today as new set of leaders were elected by the Congress.
The new leaders including Hu's successor, Xi Jinping would be formally unveiled tomorrow.
Besides emerging as the second largest economy, China's annual percapita income during Hu's era has increased from USD 931 to USD 3461.
Grain Yield went up 457 million tonnes to 571 million tonnes, while economy registered an average growth of around 10 per cent.
However he is stepping down at a time when Chinese economy started sliding down reaching 7.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of the year missing the 7.5 per cent target due to steep fall in exports.
His regime is also marked by heavy deterioration of China's environment as the country sped on feverish growth emerging as the world's largest carbon emitter surpassing US.
Also as an offshoot of economic reforms, China for the first time witnessed ballooning wealth gap between rich and poor, prompting the party to make it as a priority issue to be resolved by the new leadership.
In his opening address of the Congress on November 8, Hu identified corruption as the main issue confronting the Party and warned that China would collapse of it is not curtailed.
