The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: 中国共产党; Traditional Chinese: 中國共產黨; Pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the People's Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the country's constitution. The Communist Party of China was founded in 1921, and fought the National Government of China (Republic of China) led by the Kuomintang (KMT) during the Chinese Civil War, which ended with the Communist Party of China's victory in the Chinese Revolution. With more than 70 million members, the CPC is the largest political party in the world, with this number being but 5% of the total population of China.

Role within the People's Republic of China
The party's organizational structure was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt afterwards by Deng Xiaoping, who subsequently initiated "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and brought all state apparatuses back under the control of the CPC.
Theoretically, the party's highest body is the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which meets at least once every 5 years. The primary organization of power in the Communist Party which are listed in the party constitution include:
Other central organizations include:
In addition, there are numerous commissions and leading groups, the most important of which are:
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 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.
There are, in addition to decision-making roles, advisory committees, including the People's Political Consultative Conference. During the 1980s and 1990s there was a Central Advisory Commission established by Deng Xiaoping which consisted of senior retired leaders, but with their passing this has been abolished.

The Politburo Standing Committee, which currently consists of nine members; see Politburo Standing Committee - Current members for a complete list.
The Politburo, consisting of 24 full members (including the members of the Politburo Standing Committee) and one alternate; see Politburo - Current members for a complete list.
The Secretariat, the principal administrative mechanism of the CPC, headed by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China;
The Central Military Commission (a parallel organization of the government institution of the same name);
The Discipline Inspection Commission, which is charged with rooting out corruption and malfeasance among party cadres.
General Office;
Organization Department;
Propaganda (Publicity) Department;
International Liaison Department; and
United Front Department
Commission for Politics and Law
Work Committee for Organs under the Central Committee
Work Committee for Central Government Organs
Central Financial and Economic Leading Group
Central Leading Group for Rural Work
Central Leading Group for Party Building
Central Foreign Affairs Leading Group
Central Taiwan Affairs Leading Group
Commission for Protection of Party Secrets
Leading Group for State Security
Party History Research Centre
Party Research Center
Central Party School Organization
Political scientists have identified two groupings within the Communist Party

Internal groupings

History
Marxism ideas start to widely spread in China after the May Fourth Movement. The Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and an informal network. There were informal groups in China in 1920, and also overseas, but the official beginning was the 1st Congress attended by 13 men in July 1921, when the formal and unified name Communist Party of China was adopted and all other names of communist groups were dropped. Mao Zedong was present as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group, which had maybe 10 members out of 53 for all China. Other 12 members attended included Zhang Guotao, Wang Jingwei, Dong Biwu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Tanqiu, Liu Renjing, Zhou Fohai, He Shuheng, Deng Enming, Chen Gongbo, Bao Huiseng (represented by Chen Duxiu sheltering in Canton at that time) and a representative from the Comintern.
Under the guidance of the Soviet Union, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923, while party members were encouraged to join the Kuomintang as individual members in preparation for the Northern Expedition - a policy recommended by the Dutch communist Henk Sneevliet, then Comintern representative in China (see Henk Sneevliet#Working for the Comintern).
The party was small at first, but grew intermittently through the first Chinese Revolution of 1925-27. Even during that revolution, which was far before the rapid growth of the 1940s and 1950s, the party was the largest communist party in the world, larger even than the CPSU. With the collapse of the revolution in 1927 the party was massacred at the hands of the Kuomintang with more than 4 in 5 members being killed. The only major section of the party which survived was the section built around Mao Zedong, which through its loyalty to the Comintern line and short-lived strategic "alliances" with the Kuomintang, was able to survive the slaughter. Mao Zedong achieved success using Mobile Warfare, which was at first rejected by the leadership and then resumed on the famous Long March. The Western world first got a clear view of the Communist Party of China through Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China.
After 1945, the civil war resumed and despite initial gains by the Kuomintang, it was defeated and forced to flee to off-shore islands, the biggest among which is Taiwan. The Kuomintang's defeat marked the onset of the Chinese Revolution whence Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

As Ruling Party
There are 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 and other Marxists have strongly negative opinions. Trotskyists argue that the party lost its Marxist credentials in the 1920s and adhered to a Stalinist political doctrine, with many calling for political revolution. 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.
Supporters of the International Tibet Independence Movement, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Falun Gong, a spiritual group, Taiwan independence, neoconservatives in the United States and Japan, international human rights groups, proponents of civil liberties and freedom of expression, advocates of democracy, along with many left-wing forces in those same countries, are among the groups which have opposed the CPC government because it is said to be a repressive single-party state regime.
In addition, the extremists within the American neoconservatives sometimes argue that the Communist Party of China is a grave threat to peace because of its authoritarian nature, its military build-up of offensive capabilities, and threats made to Taiwan.
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.
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 modern Communist Party may be flawed, it is comparatively better than previous regimes, 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. However, farmers and other rural people have been marginalized, and their standard of living and national influence have been greatly reduced, as a result, the CPC has recently taken sweeping measures to regain support from the countryside, to limited success.
In addition, some scholars contend that China has never operated under a decentralized democratic regime in its several thousand years of history, and therefore it can be argued that the structure present, albeit not up to western moral standards, is the best possible option when compared to its alternatives. A sudden transition to democracy, they contend, would result in the economic and political upheaval that occurred in the Soviet Union 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 Spain in the 1960s, and South Korea and Taiwan during the 1970s.
As with the first group, this school of thought brings together some unlikely political allies. Not only do most intellectuals within the Chinese government follow this school of thinking, but it is also the common belief held amongst pro-free trade liberals in the West.
Many observers from both within and out of China have noted the CCP's gradual but sure movement 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.

Viewpoints: criticism and support
The Members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China are:
Members of the Politburo 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 (dismissed in September 2006), 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 Politburo 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.

Hu Jintao - President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission
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 National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Zeng Qinghong - Vice President of the People's Republic of China, member of the CPC CC Secretariat
Huang Ju (deceased) - Vice Premier, State Council
Wu Guanzheng - Secretary of the CPC Discipline Inspection Commission
Li Changchun - Head of the CPC CC Central Leading Group for Propaganda [Publicity] and Ideological Work
Luo Gan - Secretary of the National People's Congress Commission for Politics and Law. Educated in Germany. List of leaders of the Communist Party of China