National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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The National Congress of the Communist Party of China (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党全国代表大会; pinyin: Zhōnguó Gòngchǎndǎng Quánguó Dàibiǎo Dàhuì) is a party congress that is held about once every five years. The National Congress is theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party of China, but in practice important decisions are made before the meeting. Since 1987 the National Party Congress has always been held in the months of October or November. The venue for the event, beginning in 1956, has always been the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In the past two decades the National Congress of the CPC has been pivotal at least as a symbolic part of leadership changes in the People's Republic of China, and therefore has gained international media attention.
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[edit] Overview
The National CPC Congress should not be confused with the National People's Congress which is the legislature of the People's Republic of China. In contrast with the NPC which has become more assertive since the 1990s, the National Congress of the Communist Party has shown no signs of having any real power. In addition the National Congress should not be confused with the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. While leadership changes in the government usually occur at the National People's Congress sessions, now held every March, leadership changes in the party occur at the Party's National Congress.
In addition to making leadership changes, the Congress also reviews and changes, if necessary, the Party's Constitution, and selects the Central Committee, a powerful decision making body. Each five-year cycle of the National People's Congress also has a series of plenums of the Central Committee held on an irregular basis. Although in recent years these plenary meetings have been held more or less regularly once every year.
Since the establishment of PRC, the Conferences have occurred approximately every five years and since 1956, they have always taken place in the capital, Beijing. Each Conference lasted for five to ten days. At every Congress the direction of the Communist Party for the next five years is determined, usually associated with certain political theories or ideologies. There have been several congresses which modified the party's general direction. The 11th Party Congress, specifically its third plenum, began Chinese economic reform in 1978. The 16th Party Congress saw Jiang Zemin's Three Represents entrenched into the party's Constitution as one of its guiding ideologies.
Each Congress's name is abbreviated in Chinese as the number of the Conference, followed by character da (大), short for dahui (大会 "conference"). For example, the sixteenth Conference, Zhōnguó Gòngchǎndǎng Dìshíliùcì Quánguó Dàibiǎo Dàhuì (中国共产党第十六次全国代表大会), is shortened to Shíliù Dà (十六大 "sixteenth da").
Similar to the practice of the NPC, the delegates to the Congress are in theory indirectly selected from grassroot party organizations.
[edit] List of Congresses
[edit] Before PRC
- 1st Congress (Yi da) (一大)
- Date: July 23-31, 1921
Location of 1st Congress (Yi da)
- Location: Shanghai, then South Lake; Jiaxing, Zhejiang.
- Participants
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- Delegates: 12
- Party members: 50
- Significance: The first platform (綱領) of the Party passed; Mao Zedong attends (as Hunan representative); Chen Duxiu becomes first leader of CPC "Secretariat"; attended by two Comintern representatives (during Shanghai meetings)
- Date: July 23-31, 1921
- 2nd Congress (Er Da) (二大)
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- Delegates: 12
- Represented party members: 195
- Significance: Mao Zedong absent from Congress; Party continues purging anarchists, tries to maintain an independent stance from Sun Yat-Sen's Kuomintang (KMT)
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- 3rd Congress (San Da) (三大)
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- Delegates: ~30
- Represented party members: 420
- Significance: CPC formally ratifies the "bloc within" strategy of cooperation with the KMT as demanded by the Comintern
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- 4th Congress (Si Da) (四大)
- Date: January 11-January 22, 1925
- Location: Shanghai
- Participants
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- Delegates: 20
- Represented party members: 994
- Significance: CPC Party Center continues efforts to bring semi-independent regional Party branches under its control
- 5th Congress (Wu Da) (五大)
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- Delegates: ~80
- Represented party members: 579
- Significance: Congress followed Chiang Kai-shek's crackdown on Communists in Shanghai, elsewhere; CPC continues to "support the KMT Left and oppose the KMT Right"
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- 6th Congress (Liu Da) (六大)
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- Delegates: 84
- Alternate delegates: 34
- Represented party members: ?
- Significance: First and only Party Congress held outside China (due to Chiang's anti-CPC crackdown ); sanctioned creating armed forces controlled by CPC but still to be used "under the KMT flag."; Mao Zedong absent, stays in China at Jinggangshan
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- 7th Congress (Qi Da) (七大)
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- Delegates: 544
- Alternate delegates: 208
- Represented party members: 121
- Significance: Party constitution (黨章) is passed; National flag designed (?). CPC "Chairman" Mao Zedong is named undisputed leader of CPC; Mao's "thought" enshrined in CPC Party Constitution for first time.
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[edit] After 1949
- 8th Congress (Ba Da) (八大)
- Date: September 15-27, 1956
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
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- Delegates: 1,026
- Alternate delegates: 107
- Represented party members: 10,730,000
- Significance: 1st Congress in 11 years; Mao Zedong Thought is taken out of CPC Party Constitution; Party technocrats Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping assume higher profiles.
- 9th Congress (Jiu Da) (九大)
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- Delegates: 1,512
- Represented party members: 22,000,000
- Significance: Held at height of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," Mao's Party is decimated from infighting; People's Liberation Army (PLA) influence on Party administration pronounced; few members appointed to power during the previous Party Congress survive the 9th Congress politically; former State Chairman and second-ranking Liu Shaoqi (arrested 1966) and former CPC General Secretary Deng Xiaoping labelled "traitorous scabs and renegades"; Defense Minister Lin Biao becomes CPC Vice Chairman and Mao's "closest comrade-in-arms", and is designated constitutionally as Mao's successsor; Mao's "thought" reinserted into CPC Party Constitution
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- 10th Congress (Shi Da) (十大)
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- Delegates: 1,249
- Represented party members: 28,000,000
- Significance: "Gang of Four" led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing reach paramount power; first CPC Congress after US President Richard Nixon's visit to PRC.
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- 11th Congress (Shiyi Da) (十一大)
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- Delegates: 1,510
- Represented party members: 35,000,000
- Significance: 1st Party Congress following Mao's death, the fall of the Gang of Four; Deng Xiaoping reinstated to all of his previous posts
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- 12th Congress (Shi'er Da) (十二大)
- Date: September 1-11, 1982
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
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- Delegates: 1,600
- Alternate delegates: 149
- Represented party members: 39,650,000
- Significance: Central Committee (中央委员会), CAC, and Central Regulation and Inspection Committee (中央紀律檢查委員會) were created; CPC Party Chair position abolished, CPC General Secretary position becomes (on paper) paramount position; former CPC leader Hua Guofeng loses formal power (except his Central Committee membership) as Hu Yaobang, not Hua, gives keynote Party address
- 13th Congress (Shisan Da) (十三大)
- Date: October 25-November 1, 1987
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
-
- Full delegates: 1,936
- Specially invited delegates: 61
- Represented party members: 46,000,000
- Significance: Deng Xiaoping and all other "Second Generation" CPC leaders retire from active positions in the Party (again, on paper); "Third Generation" members (led by Zhao Ziyang) dominate the CPC Politburo Standing Committee
- 14th Congress (Shisi Da) (十四大)
- Date: October 12 to 18, 1992
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
-
- Full delegates: 1,989
- Specially invited delegates: 46
- Represented party members: 51,000,000
- Significance: 1st Party Congress after the "Tiananmen Square Protests" of June, 1989; Jiang Zemin's position as CPC General Secretary, Chairman of the (CPC) Central Military Commission ratified; Hu Jintao makes first appearance on Politburo Standing Committee
- 15th Congress (Shiwu Da) (十五大)
- Date: September 12-18, 1997
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
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- Full delegates: 2,074
- Specially invited delegates: 60
- Represented party members: 59,900,000
- Significance: 1st Party Congress following death of Deng Xiaoping, PRC reassuming control over Hong Kong; Jiang Zemin forces party rival Qiao Shi to retire; Inclusion of Deng Xiaoping's philosophy into Party constitution.; Jiang Zemin announced plans to sell, merge, or close the vast majority of SOEs in a program which included some privatization
- 16th Congress (Shiliu Da) (十六大)
- Date: November 8-15, 2002
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
-
- Full delegates: 2,114
- Specially invited delegates: 40
- Represented party members: 66,000,000
- Significance: Hu Jintao elected General Secretary; "Fourth Generation" of CPC Leadership assumes control of PRC; Jiang Zemin packs the CPC Politburo Standing Committee with supporters, holds on to CPC CMC Chair; Jiang's "Three Represents" theory enshrined in CPC Constitution
- 17th Congress (Shiqi Da) (十七大)
- Date: Fall 2007
- Location: Beijing
- Participants
-
- Full delegates:
- Specially invited delegates:
- Represented party members: 68,000,000
- Significance: It will mark almost certain leadership changes. Speculated are the resignation of Huang Ju and Wu Guanzheng, and the promotion of Li Keqiang and Bo Xilai, as Hu Jintao consolidates his power base. The official status of Jiang Zemin's Three Represents theory may be further confirmed at the Congress.
