I The socialist system with Chinese characteristics
The socialist system with Chinese characteristics, which fully embodies the distinctive features and strengths of socialism with Chinese characteristics, is a fundamental institutional guarantee for development and progress of contemporary China.
Chinese socialist system includes the following: the system of people's congresses which is China's fundamental political system; the basic political systems which include the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and the system of community-level self-governance; the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics; the basic economic system with public ownership being the leading sector and economic entities under diverse forms of ownership developing together; and specific economic, political, cultural, and social institutions based on the fundamental political system, basic political systems and the basic economic system.
These systems and institutions are compatible with China's reality and conform to the trend of the times.
Full Text of Hu Jintao's Speech at the CPC 90th Anniversary Gathering: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/01/c_13960505.htm
II Communist Party of China in Brief
The Communist Party of China represents the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people.
The final goal of the CPC is to serve the people. The only interests the Party has are those of the people, and it does not have special interests for itself. This explains why the CPC has gone from having just some 50 people at its inception in 1921 to a mega ruling party with over 80 million members today, and has accomplished three major events since its formation 90 years ago, won national independence and liberation of the people, established the basic socialist system and carried out a great new revolution of reform. History has proved with facts that the CPC's advanced nature and cohesiveness has pushed China to excel in all fronts. Without the CPC, there would be no new China.
The CPC is a unified whole according to its own guidelines and Constitution, featuring democratic centralism. In general, the organization of the CPC comprises three levels-central, local and grassroots organizations-which have distinguishing but interactive positions and functions. As early as 1980, the CPC has eliminated de facto life tenure for leading officials, and realized orderly succession of organs of state power and leaders.
Decision making process is at the center of the democratic reform. The way of the decision-making in CPC is a system combining collective leadership with individual responsibility with division of work according to the principle of democratic centralism. The CPC's current central authority, "Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee" headed by President Hu Jintao, is emblematic of such a shared leadership. Both the CPC and the Government have set up the structure with which major decisions are made only after full consultations.
CPC in Brief：http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/66102/6758183.html
III The Style of CPC's Leadership
The CPC must conduct its activities within the framework of the Constitution and laws of the country. Leadership by the party means mainly political leadership, organizational leadership and ideological leadership.
Constitution of the CPC:
http://wenku.baidu.com/view/f6999730b90d6c85ec3ac68f.html
The style of CPC's leadership is that 1) at first the top leadership of CPC list a group of issues it seeks to address in future--such as how to develop the economy smoothly, 2) then make these issues become Party's decisions through the Party's National Congress System, 3) the State Council prepare drafts in accordance with the Party's decision and ask the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's opinions, 4) submit them to the National People's Congress (NPC) for approval.
In order to improve the system of public service and build a contingent of high-standard public servants, Chinese government has issued strong laws and measures to ensure a sound development of the servant system, such as the servant diathesis, reward and the promotion system.
Joining the CPC is some kind of different from joining other political parties, which not only needs belief, but also needs ability and devotion. Because of these exemplary roles of advanced characteristics, CPC members are easier to pass examination and fulfill certain requirements to become public servants. However, the CPC membership is not a must, Mr. Wan Gang--Minister of Science and Technology, and Mr. Chen Zhu--Minister of Health are both from non-Communist parties.
IV Chinese Socialist Democracy
The CPC leads the people in promoting socialist democracy. The CPC integrates its leadership with the position of the people as masters of the country and the principle of rule of law. The essence of Chinese socialist democracy is that the people determine their own destiny. The direction of political development is towards greater openness, transparency and accountability. For example, nowadays it has become a common practice for governments at all levels to consult the public via the Internet before formulating policies of particular importance. As President Hu Jintao once said: power should operate under the sunshine.
Building of Political Democracy in China：http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/whitepaper/democracy/democracy.html
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China stipulates that socialist system is the basic system of PRC. China's state body consist of people's congresses, multiparty cooperation and political consultation led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), regional ethnic autonomy and community level self-governance.
China's Constitution：http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html
The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest state body, China's parliament. It elects China's president and approves the State budget. They decide the plan for country’s development and supervise its implementation. It meets once a year, usually in March. Deputies to the people's congresses of nation, provinces, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities divided into districts are elected by the people's congresses at the next lower level; deputies to the people's congresses of counties, cities not divided into districts, municipal districts, townships, nationality townships, and towns are elected directly by their constituencies.
About NPC: http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/about/node_2842.htm
In China's system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation, the CPC is the governing party, and all other eight democratic parties are participating parties. They work together to build socialism in China. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body made up of delegates from political parties, organizations and independent members. The National Committee, presently headed by Jia Qinglin, meets once a year at about the same time as the NPC. The plenary sessions of the NPC and CPPCC are often referred to as Lianghui (two meetings).
http://www.china.org.cn/english/Political/29034.htm
The CPC must operate within the limit set by the Constitution and laws of the country and support the NPC, the government, the CPPCC, and the judicial organs which have independent responsibilities in accordance with the law and their respective charters.
The CPC has gained rich and valuable experience in governing the world's most populous nation, and will surely remain confident in its role as long as it represents people's interests. On the other hand, the CPC also has been facing greater challenges due to the unparalleled changes the world's second-largest economy is undergoing. President Hu Jintao told Party members to be aware of the "growing danger of a lack of drive, incompetence, divorce from the people, lack of initiative, and corruption".
V Looking Into the Future
The full realization of human rights is an important goal for China in its efforts to build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way as well as to build a harmonious society. China is a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion. Due to its inadequate and unbalanced development, there is still much room for improvement in its human rights conditions. Working closely with other countries, China will, as always, spare no efforts and contribute its due share to ensure the continuous progress of China's human rights, as well as the healthy development of human rights in the rest of the world and the building of a harmonious world with lasting peace and common prosperity.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-09/26/content_11348812.htm
China's foreign policy aims to uphold world peace and promote common development. We will continue to pursue an independent foreign policy of peace and unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development and the win-win strategy of opening up. The CPC will, following the principle of independence, complete equality, mutual respect, and noninterference in each other's internal affairs, conduct exchanges, cooperation, and mutual learning of governance experience with political parties and organizations of other countries and regions to promote China's relations with other countries.
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjdt/
After more than 30 years reform and opening up, China has gathered a great deal of valuable experiences. The CPC will unswervingly follow the basic state policy of opening up, improve Chinese open economy, turn China's speedy development into quality development, and fully improve the performance of it. The CPC will cultivate a new security concept by enhancing mutual trust through dialogue, by promoting common security through cooperation. There is still much room for improvement in China's development. The CPC gives its solemn promise to steer China toward a brighter future in the fast changing world, the party has great responsibilities on its shoulders. During this process, the CPC should continue to be realistic instead of over ambitious, and also needs continued good international situation.
Extensive Reading:
Full Text of Hu Jintao's Speech at the CPC 90th Anniversary Gathering: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/01/c_13960505.htm
Constitution of the CPC:
http://wenku.baidu.com/view/f6999730b90d6c85ec3ac68f.html
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