The CPC was founded on July 1, 1921. It is the ruling party in China, representing the interests of the entire Chinese nation and serving as the core leading China’s socialist modernization drive. By the end of 2005, the CPC had 70.8 million members. Its grassroots organizations numbered 3.52 million, including 170,000 committees, 210,000 organization departments and 3.14 million subcommittees.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the CPC led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups to overcome various difficulties, transforming China from a poor and backward semi-colonial and semi-feudal country into a socialist state with initial prosperity.

The CPC mainly exercises ideological and political leadership. It derives its ideas and policies from the people's concentrated will and then transforms them into state laws and decisions that are adopted by the NPC. But the CPC does not take the place of the government in the state leadership system. It conducts activities within the framework of the Constitution and laws, which it has no right to transcend. All CPC members, like other citizens in the country, are equal before the law.

In 2006, a total of 97,260 CPC members received disciplinary sanctions, accounting for 0.14 percent of the total membership. Of them, those who were punished for endangering public order, dereliction of duty, corruption and violations of financial disciplines totaled 78,980. In addition, 3,530 people suspected of committing crimes, including seven provincial- and ministerial-level officials, were handed over to prosecutors, making up 3.6 percent of total punished members. Compared with the previous year, the number of major crime-prone cases investigated by CPC commissions for discipline inspection and supervisory departments of the government at various levels declined 10.9 percent.

Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) is the organ of the CPC Central Committee, and Qiushi (Seeking Truth) is its theoretical publication.

(Beijing Review: China Facts & Figures)