Focus on the 19th National Congress of the CPC| Explanation of China’s Governance

Signals Released from the CPC Right before the 19th National Congress

2017-09-27 14:08

By LIU SHAOHUA

 

On July 26, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave an address at the opening session of a workshop for provincial and ministerial officials, in which he emphasized that the Communist Party of China (CPC) must explicitly declare what banner to hold, what road to take, in what state of mind, what historic mission to shoulder and what targets to achieve.

   At a time when the 19th CPC National Congress looms on the horizon, Xi’s remark is of great importance. How to answer those questions is of both practical and historical significance to further align the political thinking of the CPC and pool the strength of the whole of Chinese society to win new victories in building a socialist country with Chinese characteristics.

 

What Banner to Hold and What Road to Take

The Chinese people are familiar with the question of what banner to hold and what road to take. In fact, we have unremittingly explored the answer to this question since the beginning of the modern era.

Xi Jinping reviewed this history in his speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium in 2014. In 1911, the revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen overthrew the autocratic monarchy that had ruled China for several thousand years. But once the old system was gone, finding a right development direction became a pressing issue for the country. The Chinese people then began searching long and hard for a path that would suit China's national conditions. They experimented with constitutional monarchy, imperial restoration, parliamentarism, a multi-party system and a presidential government, yet none of them really worked. Finally, China took on the path of socialism.

In November 2015, Xi Jinping met with foreign representatives at the second Understanding China Conference. He pointed out the huge bas-reliefs depicting China’s revolutionary process from the First Opium War in 1840 to the success of China’s revolution in 1949. “We cherish the memory of the martyrs of revolutionary struggle and we are also following their footprints to move forward,” said Xi. “I always remind myself that we should have a sense of history,” he added.

In the practice of implementing socialism, China made mistakes and went through many ups and downs. The situation improved under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. We made the national conditions and demands of the time our starting point, explored different development paths and finally chose the socialism with Chinese characteristics. China has its distinctive traditions, culture, history and practical conditions, which dictate that China must follow its own development path suited to its own particular characteristics.

The CPC is also familiar with the question of what banner to hold and what road to take. Since the founding of the CPC, the party has moved from “following the path of others” towards “developing its own path.” The experiments made since the reform and opening up has proved that socialism with Chinese characteristics is fruitful. Socialism has not only displayed a strong vitality in China but has also achieved new developments.

The reports of previous CPC National Congresses, convened since the beginning of the reform and opening up, show that to focus on and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics has been "the theme of all the Party's theories and practices" since reform and opening up started nearly forty years ago. The 18th National Congress declared that we will hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, which includes a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, a system of socialist theories with Chinese characteristics and a socialist system with Chinese characteristics.

 

Link:

Themes of Previous CPC National Congresses Since Reform and Opening Up

 

The 12th CPC National Congress: Create a New Situation in All Fields of Socialist Modernization.

 

The 13th CPC National Congress: March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

 

The 14th CPC National Congress: Accelerate Reform and Opening Up to the Outside World and Increase the Drive for Modernization, so as to Achieve Greater Successes in Building Socialism With Chinese Characteristics.

 

The 15th CPC National Congress: Hold High the Great Banner of Deng Xiaoping’s Theory for an All-round Advancement of the Cause of Building Socialism With Chinese Characteristics’ Into the 21st Century.

 

The 16th CPC National Congress: Build a Moderately Prosperous Society in an All-round Way and Create a New Situation by Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.

 

The 17th CPC National Congress: Hold High the Great Banner of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive For New Victories in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects.

 

The 18th CPC National Congress: Firmly March on the Path of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and Strive to Complete the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Aspects.  

  

   Today, Xi Jinping explicitly noted that the whole Party must hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and solidify their confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so as to ensure all improvements and progress made in the right direction.

   He reiterated that China’s own path is the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

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