Hu Jintao

Hu Jintao's record is defined by statecraft rather than stagecraft. He presided over a decade in which China's economy roughly tripled in size, expanded national healthcare coverage, and signed the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with Taiwan. He is the only living former paramount leader of the People's Republic of China, and his voluntary retirement in 2012 and 2013, handing power to Xi Jinping, was widely praised at the time as a model of orderly succession. His foreign state decorations from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other partner states reflect the diplomatic reach of his presidency. He does not appear on cultural greatest lists and holds no entertainment-industry awards.