Communist Party Of China Organization Policies Members Of The

With more than 63 million members, the Communist Party of China (CPC; CCP for the unofficial name Chinese Communist Party; or the somewhat derogatory Chicom) is the largest political party in the world. Authoritarian in structure and ideology, it continues to dominate the government. In periods of relative liberalization, the influence of people and organizations outside the formal party structure has tended to increase, particularly in the economic realm. Nevertheless, in all-important governmental institutions in the PRC, party committees work to see that party and state policy guidance is followed and that non-party members do not create autonomous organizations that could challenge party rule. Party control is tightest in government offices and in urban economic, industrial, and cultural settings; it is considerably looser in the rural areas, where the majority of the people live.

1 Organization

Also important are " leading small groupA leading small group lingdao xiaozu is a committee of the Communist Party of China which coordinates party activities within an agency of the People's Republic of China. They have become increasingly important within the PRC after the 1990s, especially is," which are committees of high ranking party members within state agencies. These can be extremely powerful, particularly in the area of foreign policyFor information about the foreign relations of China see: foreign relations of imperial China foreign relations of the People's Republic of China (mainland China) foreign relations of the Republic of China (Taiwan) foreign relations of Hong Kong foreign r.

Every five years, the Chinese Communist Party holds a National Congress. Formally, the Congress serves two functions: to approve changes to the Party constitution and to elect a Central CommitteeThe Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the highest authority within the Communist Party of China between Party Congresses. In Chinese the committee is sometimes known as the three middle because there are three middle s in the Chinese na, 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 locus 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 DailyThe People's Daily (; pinyin: renmin ribao) is a simplified Chinese language newspaper published not only in mainland China but worldwide with the circulation of 3 to 4 million. It is the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China. The first issue, 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.

2 Policies

In the 16th National Congress in November, 2002, President of the People's Republic of China and General Secretary Jiang Zemin announced several important policy changes as part of the his theory of the Three represents. China would remain "a people's democratic dictatorship" under the control of the Communist Party; however, entrepreneurs and people in unconventional occupations would have a voice in making Party decisions.

3 Members of the Central Committee

The members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China are (as of 2003):

Hu Jintao - President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the CPC.
Wu Bangguo - Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Wen Jiabao - Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
Jia Qinglin - Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference
Zeng Qinghong - Vice President of the People's Republic of China
Huang Ju - Vice Premier, State Council
Wu Guanzheng - Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
Li Changchun - no other positions held, known to many as the propaganda chief
Luo Gan - Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary

Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central committee:

Wang Lequan , Wang Zhaoguo , Hui Liangyu, Liu Qi, Liu Yunshan , Li Changchun, Wu Yi, Wu Bangguo, Wu Guanzheng, Zhang Lichang , Zhang Dejiang , Chen Liangyu , Luo Gan, Zhou Yongkang , Hu Jintao, Yu Zhengsheng , He Guoqiang , Jia Qinglin, Guo Boxiong , Huang Ju, Cao Gangchuan , Zeng Qinghong, Zeng Peiyan , Wen Jiabao.

Alternate member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: Wang Gang

Members of Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee: Zeng Qinghong, Liu Yunshan , Zhou Yongkang , He Guoqiang, Wang Gang , Xu Caihou, He Yong.

4 Leaders of the Communist Party of China

4.1 List of Chairmen of the CPC Central Committee

Chen Duxiu (1921-1927)
Mao Zedong (1929-1976)
Hua Guofeng (1976-1981)
Hu Yaobang (1981-1982)

4.2 List of General Secretaries of the Communist Party of China

Deng Xiaoping (1956-1957)
Hu Yaobang (1980-1987)
Zhao Ziyang (1987-1989)
Jiang Zemin (1989-2002)
Hu Jintao (since 2002)

The post of Chairman was abolished in 1982. Previously, the General Secretary served more of a bureaucratic role subordinate to the chairman. With the abolition of the post of Chairman, the General Secretary has become the most powerful position within the party.

5 Criticism and support

There is a variety of opinions about the Communist Party of China, and opinions about the CPC often create unexpected political alliances and divisions. For example, many chief executive officers of Western companies tend to have favorable impressions of the CPC, while many revolutionary Maoists have strongly negative opinions. Opinions about the CPC also create very strong divisions among groups normally ideologically united such as conservatives in the United States.

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.

Western human rights activists tend to see Chinese events as examples of state oppression, whereas most Chinese (including many of those who are anti-government or anti-CPC) tend to see China's troubles as stemming from anarchy and the lack of social institutions that would defend China from outsiders or prevent one person from forming a cult of personality.

Supporters of Tibetan nationalism and Taiwan independence, neoconservatives in the United States and Japan, along with most left-wing forces in those same countries, are among the groups which have perceived the CPC government as a totalitarian regime. They refer to the events of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese famine of 1958-1961, and Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 as examples. They note that millions of people died in the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward under Communist rule and see the current Chinese government as a continuation of the Chinese governments of the 1950s and 1960s. This issue is dealt with in more detail in the article History of the People's Republic of China. In addition, some within this group, especially American neoconservatives, argue that the Chinese Communist Party is a grave threat to peace because what they see as its totalitarian nature.

Among Chinese, 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.

Another school of thought argues that the worst of the abuses took place decades ago, and that the current leadership is not only unconnected with them, but were actually victims of that era. They have also argued that while the Communist Party may be flawed, it is comparatively better, with respect to improving the general standard of living, than any other government that has governed China in the past century and can be put in more favorable light against most governments of the developing nations. Finally, it has been argued that despite its flaws, the Communist Party is better than its alternatives, and that a sudden forced transition to democracy would result in the economic and political collapse that occurred in Russia in the 1990s, and that by focusing on economic growth, China is setting the stage for a more gradual but more sustainable transition to a more liberal system. This group sees Mainland China as being similar to South Korea and Taiwan during the 1970s.

As with the first group, this school of thought brings together some unlikely political allies. Not only are most members of the Chinese government members of this school of thinking, but it also include business conservatives in the United States and pro- free trade liberals. Ironically some of the ideological justifications for this school of thought comes from the Kirkpatrick doctrine which makes a strong distinction between authoritarian regimes and totalitarian ones.

6 See also

7 External link

Chinese political parties Communist parties Political parties by name C People's Republic of China Authoritarian political parties

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