After the liberation of Shanghai, he served successively as deputy engineer, chief of the works section and concurrently head of the power workshop, Party branch secretary and first deputy director of the Shanghai Yimin No.l Foodstuff Factory, first deputy director of the Shanghai SoapFactory, and chief of the electrical machinery section of Shanghai No.2 Design Division of the No.l Ministry of Machine-Building Industry.

He worked as a trainee at the Stalin Automobile Works in Moscow in 1955.

After his return to China in 1956, he was deputy chief of the power division, deputy chief power engineer of the First Automobile Works in Changchun and director of the power factory in the plant.

After 1962, he served successively as deputy director of the Shanghai Electrical Equipment Research Institute under the No.l Ministry of Machine-Building Industry, director and acting secretary of the CPC Committee of the Wuhan Thermal Machinery Institute under the ministry, and deputy director and director of the ministry's Foreign Affairs Bureau.

After 1980, he served as deputy director and concurrently secretary general of the State Administration Commission on Import and Export Affairs and the State Administration Commission on Foreign Investment and member of the Leading Party Member Groups of the two commissions.

After 1982, he served as first vice minister and vice secretary of the Leading Party Member Group of the Ministry of Electronics Industry, minister and secretary of the ministry's Leading Party Member Group.

After 1985, he served as mayor of Shanghai and deputy secretary and secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee.

He was elected member of the CPC Central Committee at the 12th CPC National Congress in September 1982. In November 1987, he was elected member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee. In June 1989, he was elected member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee.

In November 1989, he was elected chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee.

In March 1990, he was elected chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC at the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress (NPC). In October 1992, he was elected member and Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the First Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee.

In March 1993, he was elected president of the PRC and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC at the First Session of the Eighth NPC.

In September 1997, he was elected member and Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau and general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the First Plenary Session of the 15th CPCCentral Committee. In March 1998, he was re-elected president of the PRC and chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC at the First Session of the Ninth NPC.

In November 2002, he was re-elected chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission at the First Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee.

New CPC Politburo Standing Committee members make a group debut at a press conference in Beijing after they are elected