Established in July 1921, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has grown from only a few dozen members to a party of 91.9 million members that governs a country of 1.4 billion people. The Party has stood the test of time, reversing China's fate from its continuous decline since the Opium War in the 1840s to its steady progress toward prosperity as the world's second largest economy.
On July 23, 1921, delegates representing about 50 CPC members nationwide convened the first CPC National Congress in Shanghai, but moved to a boat on Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing of eastern China's Zhejiang province following harassment by local police. The congress adopted the Party's program and proclaimed the founding of the CPC. July 1 was later selected as the date to mark the anniversary of the CPC's founding.
The CPC is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation. It is the leadership core for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and represents the developmental demands of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation for China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the greatest possible majority of the Chinese people.
The original aspiration and the mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.
At its founding, the CPC made realizing Communism its highest ideal and its ultimate goal, and shouldered the historic mission of national rejuvenation. In pursuing this goal, the CPC has united the Chinese people and led them through arduous struggles to epic accomplishments.
The CPC strives for both the well-being of the Chinese people and the progress of humanity. Its abiding mission is to make new and greater contributions for mankind.
