Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party

{{Short description|Executive committee of the CCP}} {{Infobox communist organ |name = '''Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China''' |native_name = {{nobold|{{noitalics|{{lang|zh-hans|中国共产党中央委员会政治局}}}}}} |image = Danghui.svg |imagesize = |imagecaption = |leader = Xi Jinping |leader_title = General Secretary |elected_by = Central Committee |responsible_to = Central Committee |seats = 23 (as at March 2026) |meeting_place = Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai Beijing, China<ref>{{cite news |last = Wang |first = Jun |title = 中央政治局如何开会 |url = http://m.qikan.com/ArticleContentNew.aspx?type=2&titleid=6D247FEA-3903-4976-BD27-C27249C4230C&categorycode=097F40B8-AF91-4CAF-8F7C-71CD2A932382 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171019064209/http://m.qikan.com/ArticleContentNew.aspx?type=2&titleid=6D247FEA-3903-4976-BD27-C27249C4230C&categorycode=097F40B8-AF91-4CAF-8F7C-71CD2A932382 |url-status=dead |archive-date = 19 October 2017 |access-date = 18 October 2017 |website = qikan.com |date = 15 June 2013 }}</ref> |picture=}} {{Infobox Chinese | order = st | s = 中国共产党中央委员会政治局 | t = 中國共產黨中央委員會政治局 | p = Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú | w = Chung1-kuo2 Kung4-chʻan3-tang3 Chung1-yang1 Chêng4-chih4-chü2 | l = China Communist Party Central Committee Political Bureau | altname = Politburo | c2 = 政治局 | p2 = Zhèngzhìjú | w2 = Chêng4-chih4-chü2 | l2 = Political Bureau | links = no }} {{Politics of China |expanded = Communist Party }} The '''Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party''', officially the '''Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China''', is the executive committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Currently, the bureau is a group of 23 top officials who oversee the party and central government. The politburo is headed by the general secretary. Unlike the politburos of other communist parties, the CCP Politburo subdelegates many of its powers to the smaller Politburo Standing Committee.

The Politburo is elected by the Central Committee. In practice, however, scholars of Chinese elite politics believe that the Politburo is a self-perpetuating body, with new members of both the Politburo and its Standing Committee chosen through a series of deliberations by current Politburo members and retired Politburo Standing Committee members. The current and former Politburo members conduct a series of informal straw polls to determine the group's level of support for each new candidate's membership in the Politburo. The process for selecting the new Politburo begins with a closed door meeting by the incumbent Politburo Standing Committee in Beidaihe in the summer before the National Congress of the CCP convenes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Li |first=Cheng |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6kzDCQAAQBAJ&q=how+is+the+politburo+members+chosen+%22straw+poll%22&pg=PT52 |title=Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership |publisher=Brookings Institution |year=2016 |isbn=9780815726937 |language=en |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kang Lim |first=Benjamin |date=20 November 2017 |title=Exclusive: China's backroom powerbrokers block reform candidates - sources |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-congress-poll/exclusive-chinas-backroom-powerbrokers-block-reform-candidates-sources-idUSBRE8AK01F20121121 |access-date=18 October 2017 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019004424/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-congress-poll/exclusive-chinas-backroom-powerbrokers-block-reform-candidates-sources-idUSBRE8AK01F20121121 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The power of the Politburo resides largely in the fact that its members generally simultaneously hold positions within the People's Republic of China state positions and with the control over personnel appointments that the Politburo and Secretariat have. In addition, some Politburo members hold powerful regional positions. How the Politburo works internally is unclear, but it appears that the full Politburo meets once a month and the standing committee meets weekly. This is believed to be much less frequent than meetings of the former Soviet Politburo. The agenda for the meetings is controlled by the CCP general secretary and decisions are made by consensus rather than by majority vote.<ref name="China Leadership Monitor">{{cite web |last=Miller |first=H. |title=Hu Jintao and the Party Politburo |url=http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/clm9_lm.pdf |access-date=15 October 2011 |work=China Leadership Monitor |publisher=Hoover Institution |page=5 |archive-date=13 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413163540/https://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/clm9_lm.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== History == The Politburo was eclipsed by the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party in the early 1980s under Hu Yaobang, but has re-emerged as a dominant force after Hu's ousting in 1987.<ref name="Li-2008">Li, Cheng et al. (2008). ''China's Changing Political Landscape'', Washington: Brookings Institution Press. {{ISBN|978-0-8157-5209-7}}.</ref>

== Composition and selection == Since the 1990s, Politburo members concurrently held posts in the party apparatus, in state posts, and as regional party chiefs.<ref name=":0">Miller, Alice. "[https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/clm55-am-final.pdf The 19th Central Committee Politburo]". ''China Leadership Monitor'' 55 (2018).</ref> Some are party secretaries of important provinces or municipalities.<ref name=":0222">{{Cite book |last=Li |first=David Daokui |title=China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict |date=2024 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393292398 |location=New York, NY |author-link=David Daokui Li}}</ref>{{Rp|page=57}} In addition, members serving in the military and security sectors have been limited to 3 posts. In contrast, most members in the 1980s had a military command background.<ref name=":0" /> In 2017, for the 19th Central Committee Politburo, aside from the heads of the four main institutional hierarchies—the CCP, the National People's Congress, the State Council and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, there were six members each holding posts in the party, the national government, the regional governments, and three in the military.<ref name=":0" /> The average age of the 2017 Politburo's members was 62, which was similar to those in recent decades. Before that, the CCP under Deng Xiaoping deliberately encouraged turnover by imposing term limits and retirement ages.<ref name=":0" />

Since the 17th National Congress, the official way of electing the Politburo was through a process called "democratic recommendation" ({{lang-zh|s=民主推荐|labels=no}}) where the CCP conducted a straw poll of 200 candidates to the Politburo, which were factored into the final list of candidates presented at the National Congress of the CCP. However, this was abolished in the 19th National Congress under Xi, which denounced the "vote buying" and voting "based on personal connections and favors" of this method, particularly in connection to politicians who fell after the anti-corruption campaign under Xi. The process was officially replaced with a method of "face-to-face interviews, investigation and study".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Raising the Curtain on China's 20th Party Congress: Mechanics, Rules, "Norms," and the Realities of Power |url=https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/raising-curtain-chinas-20th-party-congress-mechanics-rules-norms-and-realities-power |date=August 4, 2022 |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Asia Society |language=en |archive-date=2022-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810155125/https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/raising-curtain-chinas-20th-party-congress-mechanics-rules-norms-and-realities-power |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Current composition === {{Main|20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party}}

The 20th Politburo was elected at the first plenary session of the 20th Central Committee in October 2022. Xi Jinping’s persistence in his third five-year term represents a departure from the pattern of decade-long reigns for leaders, such as Mao and Deng.<ref name="p177">{{Cite news |last1=Cai |first1=Weiyi |last2=Byrd |first2=Aaron |last3=Buckley |first3=Chris |last4=Robles |first4=Pablo |date=2023-09-02 |title=How Xi Returned China to One-Man Rule |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/02/world/asia/china-xi-rule.html |url-access=registration |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Cadre training === {{Further|Cadre system of the Chinese Communist Party}} In 2001, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party published the ''2001-2005 National Plan for Cadre Training'' elevating the importance of cadre training for the reform and opening up. The salaries of staff in party schools were brought in line with the salaries paid in regular Chinese universities. Teaching, research, and information technology was modernized to enable distance education throughout the party school system.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |author1=Pieke |first=Frank N. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/ec/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/texts-political-thought/good-communist-elite-training-and-state-building-todays-china |title=The Good Communist: Elite Training and State Building in Today's China |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9781139482134 |pages= |author-link=Frank N. Pieke}}</ref>{{Rp|page=47}}

Modern cadre training focuses on ''quality'' and ''ability''. Students are trained in ideological orthodoxy, submitting to Leninism and party discipline. The young cadre is trained in applying their knowledge creatively and independently, so as to deal flexibly with complex issues and accept continuous learning.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=50}} The initiative for cadre training after 2002 was buttressed by the Central Party School, and the regional party schools, including the Party Schools in Shanghai and Shenzhen.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=51}}

== Functions == The Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee are the top decision-making institutions for the CCP Central Committee.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Zhao |first=Suisheng |title=The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy |date=2023 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-1-5036-3088-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=175 |doi=10.1515/9781503634152 |oclc=1331741429 |author-link=Suisheng Zhao}}</ref> According to the CCP constitution, the party's Central Committee elects the Politburo during a plenary session.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapter III Central Organizations of the Party – Article 22 |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/49109.htm#4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018054320/http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/49109.htm#4 |archive-date=18 October 2007 |access-date=26 March 2013 |website=China Internet Information Center}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=May 2026}} Members of the Politburo are deputy-national-level leaders or higher.<ref name=":222">{{Cite web |title=Decoding Chinese Politics: Party Center |url=https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/decoding-chinese-politics?policy=party-center&group=organizations&size=rank&connection=personal |access-date=11 October 2024 |website=Asia Society}}</ref>

=== Politburo meetings === The Politburo typically meets once a month.<ref name=":0222"/>{{Rp|page=57}} The General Secretary of the Central Committee is responsible for convening the meetings of the Politburo and decides their agenda.<ref name=":222" /> The CCP almost always releases a readout to summarize the outcomes of Politburo meetings and, since 2002, these sessions have been widely publicized.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":222" /> Frequently, they address foreign affairs.<ref name=":1" />

Since 2002, the Politburo has regularly held collective study sessions and more standard Politburo meetings. The standard meetings discuss new policy directives, provide feedback on policy implementation and prepare for future work conferences, plenums, or congresses.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Politburo |url=https://www.strategictranslation.org/glossary/politburo |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=The Center for Strategic Translation |language=en}}</ref> The collective study sessions serve as an opportunity for CCP leadership to promote new policies.<ref name=":1" /> They generally take place shortly after the standard meetings, usually on the same day or the day after. The Politburo invites professors, think tank scholars or other experts to give a lecture to the Politburo members about a topic chosen by the General Secretary. These lectures often end with "work recommendations" for the Politburo and conclude with a speech by the General Secretary on the study topic. The collective study sessions are often publicized and play an important role to signal leadership priorities to cadres.<ref name=":3" />

A Politburo meeting in October 2017 after the first plenary session of the 19th CCP Central Committee stipulated that all Politburo members must make an annual written presentation to the CCP General Secretary and the Central Committee.<ref>{{Cite news |title=中共中央政治局召开会议研究部署学习宣传贯彻党的十九大精神|url=http://www.xinhuanet.com//politics/19cpcnc/2017-10/27/c_1121868508.htm|date=2017-10-27|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109125251/http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/19cpcnc/2017-10/27/c_1121868508.htm|archive-date=2020-11-09|accessdate=2019-02-28|website=Xinhua News Agency|language=zh}}</ref>{{Independent source inline|date=May 2026}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party