BEIJING (AP) - China's ruling Communist Party's proposed scrapping of a limit on presidential terms is upending three decades of efforts to restrict how long top leaders can hold office and setting the stage for party chief Xi Jinping to remain head of state indefinitely.

Xi is coming to the end of his first five-year term as president and is set to be appointed to his second term at an annual meeting of the rubber-stamp parliament that starts March 5. The proposal to end term limits, announced by state media on Sunday, is certain to be approved at that meeting.

A look at the history of presidential power under the People's cách chữa bệnh phụ khoa Republic of China and the potential effects of the move to allow Xi to remain cach chua viem phu khoa head of state for many years to come:

FILE - In this Oct 25, 2017, file photo, Chinese President Xi tỏi chữa bệnh phụ khoa Jinping claps while addressing the media as he introduces new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. On a proposal made public Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018, China's ruling Communist Party proposes removing a limit of two consecutive terms for the president and vice president. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

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MAO DERIVES POWER FROM PARTY, MILITARY POSTS

Mao Zedong served as the PRC's first "state chairman," the formal name for president, but retained ultimate power through his dual roles as party chairman and commander of the armed forces. Over the ensuing decades, he beat off all potential challengers while continuing the ancient imperial tradition of ruling supreme until his death in 1976.

At the height of Mao's chaotic 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, the post of president sat vacant before being formally abolished entirely in 1975. The violent excesses of that decade, when loyal party cadres were cruelly punished along with members of the intelligentsia and the old landlords, soured many Chinese on the idea of cult-like devotion to a single leader. Following its conclusion, the post of party chairman was eliminated and state institutions revived after Mao's passing in an attempt to avoid another catastrophic bout of one-man rule.