The Communist Party of China (CPC),[19][note 2] commonly known as the Chinese

Communist Party (CCP),[20] is the founding and sole governing political party of
the People's Republic of China (PRC). The CCP leads eight other legally permitted
subordinate minor parties together as the United Front. The CCP was founded in
1921, with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union and Far Eastern Secretariat of the Communist International under Lenin.[21]
[22] The party grew quickly, and by 1949 it had driven the Kuomintang (KMT)'s
Nationalist Government from mainland China to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War,
leading to the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.
It controls the country's armed forces, the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It is
also one of the two major historical contemporary parties in Chinese history, the
other being the Kuomintang.

The CCP is officially organized on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle

conceived by Russian Marxist theoretician Vladimir Lenin which entails a democratic
and open discussion on policy on the condition of unity in upholding the agreed-
upon policies. Theoretically, the highest body of the CCP is the National Congress,
convened every fifth year. When the National Congress is not in session, the
Central Committee is the highest body, but since the body meets normally only once
a year most duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo and its
Standing Committee, members of the latter seen as the top leadership of the Party
and the State.[23] The party's leader recently holds the offices of general
secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military
Commission (CMC) (responsible for military affairs) and State President (a largely
ceremonial position). Through these posts, the party leader is the country's
paramount leader. The current leader is general secretary Xi Jinping, elected at
the 18th Central Committee held on 15 November 2012.