Editor's Note: As this year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, CGTN has launched a Q&A session inviting experts to answer our readers' most pressing questions. These questions were compiled based on questionnaires we distributed to readers across our social media platforms.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) has led China through decades of rapid development and profound transformation. Yet for many international audiences, questions remain about what underpins its governance, public support and long-term vitality.

In an interview with CGTN, Xia Lu, a research fellow at the National Academy for Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China and deputy dean of the School of Marxism Studies at Xinjiang University, explains the institutional strengths, governance philosophy and practical experience that have shaped the CPC's success and examines what lessons its governance may offer to the wider world.

CGTN: Please list some basic, underreported facts about the CPC that you believe our global readers should know.

Xia: First, the CPC is a mass Party of ordinary citizens, not a narrow ruling elite. With over 100 million members as of the end of 2024 – roughly one in every 14 Chinese – the CPC is the world's largest party continuously governing a society over seven decades. Contrary to the image of a closed political caste, about one-third of members are industrial workers and farmers, and the rest come from all walks of life, including teachers, engineers, doctors, and private entrepreneurs. Most Party members live as ordinary citizens in their communities and are expected to take the lead in difficult tasks, not enjoy special privileges.

Second, the Party's admission is highly selective, not a simple registration. Joining the CPC is a rigorous, multi-stage process – not a checkbox on a voter form. Applicants must submit a written application, complete political study and training, be recommended by two full Party members, pass background checks, and serve a minimum one-year probationary period before a Party branch votes on full membership. Tens and millions of people apply annually, but admission rates are controlled to emphasize ideological commitment, moral character and proven performance over mere affiliation.

Third, the Party is embedded in daily life through 5 million grassroots branches. The CPC operates through roughly five million primary-level Party branches in villages, urban neighborhoods, factories, university departments, hospitals, state-owned enterprises, private enterprises and government departments. This granular presence allows the Party to mobilize quickly at the community level – evident in disaster response and the targeted poverty alleviation campaign, in which more than 1,800 CPC members sacrificed their lives while working in impoverished villages.

Fourth, the CPC practices institutionalized self-correction for self-improvement. Anti-corruption is framed abroad as factional infighting, but the CPC runs a routinized, nationwide discipline-inspection system backed by over 4,000 intra-Party regulations, investigating both senior officials and grassroots members. The Party has openly acknowledged and corrected its own historical errors – most notably through three historical resolutions approved by its central committee – demonstrating a willingness to self-critique and institutionalize lessons learned rather than deny past wrongdoings.

Fifth, its governance follows multi-generational planning and long-term management. Rather than pivoting with each election, the CPC governs through a continuous hierarchy of plans: the "Two Centenary Goals" set long-term national visions for 2021 (100 years of the CPC) and 2049 (100 years of the PRC), bridged by successive Five-Year Plans that translate strategies into actionable policies across decades. This allows mega-projects – high-speed rail, universal healthcare, extreme-poverty eradication – to be planned, funded and executed across multiple administrative cycles, offering a form of policy continuity rarely seen in Western party politics.

CGTN: A 13-year Harvard Kennedy School survey of 30,000 Chinese released in 2020, found that over 90% of the Chinese people are satisfied with the central government led by the CPC. What do you see as the primary drivers behind the CPC's high level of approval?

Xia: First, performance legitimacy: sustained improvement in material livelihoods. The CPC's public support is often described as a "performance-based social contract" – the Party has been delivering real and tangible improvements in daily life. Since reform and opening up, China has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty, has become the world's second-largest economy, and has seen the disposable income of Chinese people multiply several times over. The Harvard survey notes that satisfaction rose most sharply among low-income and inland residents who directly benefited from this growth, not just coastal elites.

Second, universal access to public services and social security. Respondents credited China's central government with rapidly expanding access to basic healthcare, pension insurance, compulsory education and rural infrastructure (roads, electrification, water and the internet). Between 2012 and 2020, enrollment in basic medical and old-age insurance surged, with rural and previously underserved populations seeing the most dramatic gains. The report cited the visible delivery of public goods as a top reason for rising trust.

Third, targeted poverty alleviation as a visible national priority. The CPC's targeted poverty alleviation campaign since 2012 – which lifted nearly 100 million rural residents out of absolute poverty and removed all 832 impoverished counties from the list. More than three million officials were dispatched to poor villages, and over 1,800 sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. For many citizens, this effort demonstrated that the central leadership actively prioritizes the vulnerable, reinforcing the perception of a government "for the people."

Fourth, perceived competence in crisis response and long-term stability. The public credits the CPC with maintaining decades of domestic peace, social order, and effective crisis management. In comparative terms, many Chinese see this as an alternative to political instability or partisan paralysis, and view the Party as the guarantor of national sovereignty and continuity. The Harvard study found citizens rate the government as "more capable and effective than ever before."

Fifth, the anti-corruption campaign and improved conduct of grassroots official. Since 2012, the CPC has conducted a sweeping anti-corruption drive and tightened oversight of local officials' conduct. The report notes that the share of respondents who considered local officials "friendly," "knowledgeable," and "concerned with ordinary people's difficulties" rose significantly between 2003 and 2016. While anti-corruption is sometimes misunderstood abroad as factional infighting, within China it is widely considered as the center disciplining wayward local power, boosting confidence in central leadership.

CGTN: Under the leadership of the CPC, China is now forging ahead on its path to modernization. What is the CPC's role in China's growth, development and modernization efforts?

Xia: Rooted in the real-life needs of ordinary Chinese people and acting as the consistent, forward-thinking steering force behind China's unique modernization journey, the CPC functions like a reliable long-term planner, unifying hundreds of millions of citizens behind clear, achievable national goals that address challenges:

First, it drafts predictable, multi-stage national development roadmaps (Five-Year Plans) instead of short-sighted election-driven policies, rolling out down-to-earth initiatives that lifted nearly 100 million rural residents out of extreme poverty via targeted village support, affordable housing subsidies and farm income boosts, an unprecedented poverty relief feat easy for global audience to recognize;

Second, it spearheads tech and industrial upgrades to fill critical supply chain gaps, investing heavily in education, research labs and digital infrastructure to nurture new growth industries from renewable energy to electric vehicles, while balancing business vitality for both private startups and large manufacturers to keep the economy stable and create abundant local jobs;

Third, it builds widely accessible public welfare systems including low-cost universal healthcare, free compulsory education and nationwide pension coverage to narrow wealth gaps and push for shared prosperity;

Fourth, it enforces strict green development rules such as carbon reduction targets and large-scale river and forest restoration projects to deliver cleaner air and water, proving modernization does not have to come at the cost of the environment and natural resources;

Fifth, it maintains stable, inclusive national governance through whole-process people's democracy, letting residents voice opinions on community construction and public policies at the local level, paired with continuous anti-corruption and self-improvement drives to guarantee efficient, transparent public administration.

CGTN: Against a backdrop of profound changes unseen in a century, the CPC's wealth of experience in running China accumulated over its long-term governance has grown even more relevant. How would you sum up this experience? What universally valuable "Chinese solutions" do you think it can offer to political parties worldwide?

Xia: The core governing experience of the CPC leadership can be concisely summed up in the following principles:

First, its people-centered governance, reminding all political parties that legitimacy comes from delivering real and tangible improvements to people's daily lives such as poverty reduction, affordable healthcare and stable employment rather than empty campaign promises;

Second, long-term expectation management and strategic governance, showing parties how multi-decade development roadmaps can help nations tackle slow-burning challenges like aging populations, technological dependence and climate change;

Third, balanced centralization unification and grassroots democracy, offering a middle ground between chaotic fragmented governance and rigid top-down control by integrating mass feedback into policymaking via community consultations and public opinion channels;

Fourth, regular self-supervision and internal renewal, providing a replicable model for parties to curb corruption, update work styles and stay connected with ordinary citizens instead of falling into elite detachment;

Fifth, diversified modernization pathways, breaking the myth that Western liberalization is the only route to development and encouraging every party to craft development strategies matching its own country's realities to avoid social upheaval;

Sixth, a peaceful, win-win global governance logic that prioritizes shared development cooperation over zero-sum competition through cross-border infrastructure, trade and livelihood partnerships, all of which stand out as practical, actionable references for parties everywhere striving to stabilize their societies, boost inclusive development and navigate today's volatile global landscape.

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Q&A: Six facts about the CPC to better understand China