A PEOPLE’S PARTY

By Kerry Brown

As an organization， there can be few in modern history that have had so much impact on the world as the Communist Party of China （CPC）. Since 1949， it has been the ruling party in a country whose population comprises a fifth of humanity. That alone means it merits attention and study. But in addition to this， over that time， it has also seen the Peoples Republic of China （PRC） grow from a country with huge developmental and economic challenges to the worlds second largest economy， and one of its great modern powers. In this way， the CPC has become increasingly important for the outside world to understand as the impact of the countrys economic growth increases.

Some context here is important. It is often forgotten， but when the CPC came to power in 1949， average life expectancy in the new country was a little over 30 years. Levels of literacy were low. Healthcare provision was primitive to non-existent. Whatever had existed of Chinas transport infrastructure had been decimated during Chinese Peoples War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the previous decades. Entrenched poverty existed across the country， with only around 10 percent of people living in cities. A miniscule proportion attended universities.

In 2021， the year that the CPC celebrates its centenary in existence， everything has changed. China announced the eradication of absolute poverty early in 2021. Literacy levels are at close to 100 percent. More than 8 million young Chinese have graduated from one of the 2，500 universities across China each year since 2018. In 2019， according to the QS rankings， 12 Chinese universities were in the global top hundred. All the while， in terms of construction of infrastructure （over 30，000 km of high-speed train alone）， urbanization（now more than 60 percent live in cities）， per-capita GDP increases （making China a middle-income country）， and general healthcare， the PRC has been transformed.

A clear identity

Because the CPC is politically unlike the other major global economies like the U.S.， or India， or countries in Europe， it is often this dimension that gets most focus in outside commentary. For me， as someone trying to understand and study China， however， I tend to focus not so much on this， or the vastness of the Party. I think more about the lived experiences of those who belong to it （more than 95 million members in 2021）， work for it， and engage with it. After all， at its foundation， the Party was first and foremost a gathering of people. Its first congress in 1921， held in the Xintiandi area of Shanghai， had only a dozen or so members. Over its first decades in existence， it grew initially slowly， and often endured setbacks. These are all part of the narrative that the Party has about itself today and which people within it know and understand.