What is it like to lead 1.3 billion people and keep an extremely vast, complicated country on the track of sustained economic growth accompanied with ever-increasing international prestige?

Hu Jintao seems to be the one who can offer an admirable and convincing answer.

The 65-year-old was elected on Saturday to another term of five years as both Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, the country's top military command, by nearly 3,000 members of the national legislature.

Five months ago, he was reelected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the paramount decision-making body of the 73-million-member Party.

Five years ago when first taking office as the Chinese president, Hu vowed to the deputies who voted for him: "I will fulfil the duty bestowed on me by the Constitution with great diligence, and serve my country and people heart and soul."

He has proved himself a man of his word with a remarkable performance over the period.

When Hu first took over the helm of the country, what he and his colleagues in the new leadership inherited was a 25-year economic miracle featuring a stunning average annual growth of nearly 10 percent, as well as problems and challenges long veiled behind the rosy GDP figures - widening urban-rural disparities, a yawning income gap and deteriorating environment, to name a few.

In the spring of 2003, almost immediately after the new Chinese leadership was installed, Hu and his colleagues were confronted with the sudden outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

One day in April, citizens in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, which was worst hit by the deadly epidemic, were surprised to see Hu Jintao, wearing no face mask, appear on a bustling downtown commercial street, smiling and waving to passers-by.

According to local officials in Guangdong, Hu flew to Guangzhou as soon as he learnt that SARS was peaking in the city and causing widespread public panic.