China's Communist Party turns 100​​

Beijing, July 1 (RHC)-- China is marking the Chinese Communist Party’s 100th anniversary on Thursday, July 1st.

Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, a group of Chinese revolutionaries secretly founded the CCP in the city of Shanghai in 1921.  At the time, China was an impoverished country, racked by civil war.

With the backing of a mostly rural population, in 1949, the CCP succeeded in routing the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, who retreated to the island of Taiwan.  On October 1st of that year, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.

Once in power, Mao attempted to speed up China’s industrial development with bold policies, which included the Great Leap Forward of 1958 – a campaign of agricultural collectivisation.

When Mao died in 1976, the CCP’s new leaders embarked on a series of political and economic reforms, including opening up the country to international trade and investment.  In the five decades since, the CCP has overseen breakneck economic growth that has lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty and transformed China into a major global power.

At 100 years old this year, the CCP is one of the few communist parties to have maintained power into the 21st century.  Under President Xi Jinping – China’s most powerful leader since Mao – the party has further developed the country into an economic giant.

The Chinese Communist Party has approximately 92 million members, which is about 6.6 percent of the entire Chinese population.  The structure of the party and the government are intertwined on certain levels.  The party dominates the legislative arm of the government by holding two-thirds of the National People’s Congress, the legislative lower house of the government.  The CCP oversees the central, provincial, and local bodies of government.