Politburo of the Communist Party of China - Definition and Overview

The Politburo of the Communist Party of China (Chinese: 中国共产党中央政治局 pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Zhèngzhìjú) is a group of 19 to 25 people who oversee the Communist Party of China. Unlike politburos (political bureaus) of other Communist Parties, power within the politburo is centralized in the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China. The Politburo is nominally appointed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China but the practice since the 1980s has been that the Politburo is self-perpetuating.

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. How the Politburo works internally is murky, but it appears that the full Politburo meets once a month and the standing committee meets weekly. This seems to be much more infrequent than the Politburo of the CPSU. The agenda for the meetings appears to be controlled by the General Secretary and decisions are made by consensus rather than by majority vote.

The Politburo seems to have been eclipsed by the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China in the early 1980s under Hu Yaobang, but was resurgent after Hu's ouster in 1987.

See also: Politics of China

External link

• http://www.chinaleadershipmonitor.org/20041/lm.html