cpc does not take the place of the government in the states leadership system.
the communist party of china (cpc) was founded on july 1， 1921 in shanghai， china. after 28 years of struggle， the cpc finally won victory of new-democratic revolution and founded the peoples republic of china in 1949. the cpc is the ruling party of mainland china (p.r. china).
the communist party of china is founded mainly on ideology and politics. the cpc derives its ideas and policies from the peoples concentrated will and then turns that will into state laws and decisions which are passed by the national peoples congress of china through the states legal procedures. theoretically， cpc does not take the place of the government in the states leadership system. the party conducts its activities within the framework of the constitution of the peoples republic of china and the law and has no right to transcend the constitution and the law. all party members， like all citizens in the country， are equal before the law.
the third plenary session of the 11th central committee of the communist party of china， held in december 1978， decided to shift the focus of the partys work to socialist modernization and set a policy of reform and opening up to the outside world.
any chinese who has reached the age of 18， accepts the partys program and constitution and is willing to join and work actively in one of the party organizations， carry out the partys decisions and pay membership dues regularly， may apply for membership of the cpc. its membership increased from 70 in 1921 to over 66 million in 2002.
the highest leading body of the party is the national congress and the central committee elected by it. the national congress of the party is held once every five years and convened by the central committee.
the general information
date of establishment： july 1， 1921 place of establishment： shanghai general secretary of the central committee： hu jintao (elected in 16th party national congress)
