“In order to become the most faithful and best pupils of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, we need to carry on cultivation in all aspects in the course of the long and great revolutionary struggle of the proletariat and the masses of the people. We need to carry on cultivation in the theories of Marxism-Leninism and in applying such theories to practice; cultivation in revolutionary strategy and tactics; cultivation in studying and dealing with various problems according to the standpoint and methods of Marxism-Leninism; cultivation in ideology and moral character, cultivation in Party unity, inner-Party struggle, and discipline; cultivation in hard work and in the style of work; cultivation in being skillful in dealing with different kinds of people and in associating with the masses of the people; and cultivation in various kinds of scientific knowledge, etc. We are all Communist Party members and so we have a general cultivation in common. Therefore, in addition to cultivation in general we also need special cultivation for different groups and for individual comrades.”



-Liu Shaoqi, a major theoretician of the Chinese Communist Party.



The Communist Party of China (CPC), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and the ruling political party of the People’s Republic of China and the world’s largest political party. Its paramount position as the supreme political authority in China, while not a governing body recognized by China’s constitution, the Party is realized as the supreme power through control of all state apparatus and of the legislative process.



Organization



The party’s highest body is the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which meets at least once every five years. The primary organizations of power in the Communist Party which are listed in the party include:



* Central Committee, which includes:
o The Politburo Standing Committee, which currently consists of nine members;
o The Politburo, consisting of 24 full members (including the members of the Politburo Standing Committee) and one alternate;
o The Secretariat, the principal administrative mechanism of the CPC, headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China;
o The Central Military Commission (a parallel organization of the government institution of the same name);
* The Central Discipline Inspection Commission, which is directly under the National Congress and on the same level with the Central Committee, charged with rooting our corruption and malfeasance among party cadres.

Every five years, the Communist Party of China holds a National Congress. Formally, the Congress serves two functions: to approve changes to the Party constitution regarding policy and to elect a Central Committee, about 300 strong. The Central Committee in turn elects the Politburo. In practice, positions within the Central Committee and Politburo are determined before a Party Congress, and the main purpose of the Congress is to announce the party policies and vision for the direction of China in the following few years.

The party's central focus of power is the Politburo Standing Committee. The process for selecting Standing Committee members, as well as Politburo members, occurs behind the scenes in a process parallel to the National Congress. The new power structure is announced obliquely through the positioning of portraits in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Party. The number of Standing Committee members varies and has tended to increase over time. The Committee was expanded to nine at the 16th Party National Congress in 2002.

There are two other key organs of political power in the People's Republic of China: the formal government and the People's Liberation Army.
Internal or external groupings

Political scientists have identified two groupings within the Communist Party leading to a structure which has been called "one party, two factions". The first is the "elitist coalition" or Shanghai clique which contains mainly officials who have risen from the more prosperous provinces. The second is the "populist coalition" or "Youth League faction" which consists mainly of officials who have risen from the rural interior, through the Communist Youth League. The interaction between these two factions is largely complementary with each faction possessing a particular expertise and both committed to the continued rule of the Communist Party and not allowing intra-party factional politics threaten party unity. It has been noted that party and government positions have been assigned to create a very careful balance between these two groupings.

Within his "one party, two factions" model, Li Chen has noted that one should avoid labeling these two groupings with simplistic ideological labels, and that these two groupings do not act in a zero-sum, winner take all fashion. Neither group has the ability or will to dominate the other completely.
History

In 1921, largely on the initiative of two Beijing University professors, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in Shanghai.
Issues

Many of the unexpected opinions about the CPC result from its rare combination of attributes as a party formally based on Marxism which has overseen a dynamic market economy, yet maintains an authoritarian political system.

Some of the opponents of the Party within the Chinese democracy movement have tended not to argue that a strong Chinese state is inherently bad, but rather that the Communist leadership is corrupt. The Chinese New Left, meanwhile, is a current within China that seeks to "revert China to the socialist road" – i.e., to return China to the days after Mao Zedong but before the reforms of Deng Xiaoping and his successors.

Many observers from both within and outside of China have argued that the CCP has taken gradual steps towards democracy and transparency, hence arguing that it is best to give it time and room to evolve into a better government rather than forcing an abrupt change. However, other observers question whether these steps are genuine efforts towards democratic reform or disingenuous measures by the CCP to retain power.

Ideology



Maoism, or “Mao Zedong thought,” as it came to be titled, combined components of orthodox Marxism-Leninism, Confucianism, the practical experience of Communist revolution in rural China, and the combative and iconoclastic personality of Mao. In its suppression of dissent, disregard of individual liberties, and eagerness to bring about swift industrialization and modernization of the country. Mao’s regime closely resembled unreformed Soviet communism. Industrial development was at first directly patterned on Stalin’s economic policies. All large-scale industry and trade were taken over by the government.



(Brian Lloyd Belen, Erika Cristine Cayanan, Jasmin Maramag, Fatima Diane Rempillo)