100 Years of the Chinese Communist Party

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China’s Communist Party turns 100 next week. This is the Party’s 72nd year in control of China, passing the 71 years that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ruled Mexico and approaching the Soviet Union’s Communist Party’s 74 years in power. China’s Communist Party has proven itself adaptable and resilient. It guards its monopoly on power jealously and, under Xi Jinping, the Party has reasserted its authority in realms ranging from the arts and business to religion and universities. Control has also been tightened in regions such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong. 

As the charts below attest, the Party remains small relative to China’s population, but has worked to draw upon a wider swath of society. Almost twenty years ago, the Party began to welcome business people as members. Some of China’s richest people are members, but through sanctions on several high profile individuals, the Party has reminded all it is in charge.

In the documents section of our website, you can access the Party’s constitution, important speeches and reports on the Party and its work. The website also offers presentations and documents about two of Xi Jinping’s signature programs: realizing the China Dream and linking others to China through the Belt and Road Initiative. We hope you’ll join us next Tuesday for a discussion with historian Timothy Cheek about ideology and contestation in China’s Communist Party from the 1940s to today.