Hu Jintao faced great resistance. The first crisis of Hu's leadership happened during the outbreak of SARS in 2003. Following strong criticism of China for initially covering up and responding slowly to the crisis, he dismissed several party and government officials, including the health minister, who supported Jiang, and the Mayor of Beijing, Meng Xuenong, widely perceived as Hu's protégé. On 15 November 2002, a new Hu Jintao-led Politburo nominally succeeded Jiang. Although Jiang, then 76, stepped down from the powerful General Secretary and the Politburo Standing Committee to make way for a younger "fourth generation" of leadership, there was speculation that
He Jintao Chengde cavalry soldiers and defeated them, almost capturing the officer in iron mask, causing much apprehension among the Chengde soldiers. After a subsequent campaign that Tian conducted against Li Shidao the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), in which He Jintao made contributions, He Jintao was given the honorary imperial censor title of "Shiyushi" (侍御史). By 829, He Jintao was serving under Shi Xiancheng, who was ruling Weibo in "de facto" independence from the imperial government. However, as at that time, imperial forces were close to defeating the rebel general Li Tongjie, who controlled the