Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in the context of "Long March"

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the highest organ when the national congress is not in session and is tasked with carrying out congress resolutions, directing all party work, and representing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) externally. It is currently composed of 205 full members and 171 alternate members (see list). Members are nominally elected once every five years by the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. In practice, the selection process is done privately, usually through consultation of the CCP's Politburo and its corresponding Standing Committee.

The Central Committee is, formally, the "party's highest organ of authority" when the National Congress is not in a plenary session. According to the CCP's constitution, the Central Committee is vested with the power to elect the General Secretary and the members of the Politburo and its Standing Committee, as well as the Central Military Commission. It endorses the composition of the Secretariat and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It also oversees the work of various executive national organs of the CCP. The administrative activities of the Central Committee are carried out by the Central Committee's General Office. The General Office forms the support staff of the central organs that work on the Central Committee's behalf in between plenary sessions (plenums).

The leader of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the highest-ranking official and head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Central Committee is considered the party's leader. Since its formation in 1921, the leader's post has been titled as Secretary of the Central Bureau (1921–1922), Chairman (1922–1925, 1928–1931, and 1943–1982), and General Secretary (1925–1928, 1931–1943, and 1982 onwards).

By custom the party leader has either been elected by the CCP Central Committee or the Central Politburo. There were several name changes until Mao Zedong finally formalized the office of Chairman of the Central Committee in 1945. Since 1982, the CCP National Congress and its 1st CC Plenary Session has been the main institutional setting in which the CCP leadership are elected. From 1992 onwards, every party leader has been elected by a 1st CC Plenary Session. In the period 1928–45 the CCP leader was elected by conference, meetings of the Central Committee or by decisions of the Politburo. The last exception to this rule is Jiang Zemin, who was elected at the 4th Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee in the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Currently, to be nominated for the office of general secretary, one has to be a member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision body.

Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915 – 15 April 1989) was a Chinese politician who was a high-ranking official of the People's Republic of China. He held the top office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1987, first as Chairman from 1981 to 1982, then as General Secretary from 1982 to 1987. After the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), Hu rose to prominence as a close ally of Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China at the time.

Hu joined the CCP in the 1930s. During the Cultural Revolution, he was purged, recalled, and purged again by Mao Zedong. After Deng rose to power, following Mao's death, Hu played an important role in the Boluan Fanzheng program. Throughout the 1980s, he pursued a series of economic and political reforms under the supervision of Deng. Meanwhile, Hu's political and economic reforms also made him the enemy of several powerful Party elders, who opposed free-market and government reforms. When widespread student protests occurred across China in December 1986 and January 1987, Hu's political opponents blamed him for the disruptions and convinced Deng that Hu's tolerance of "bourgeois liberalization" had instigated the protests. Hu was forced to resign as General Secretary in early 1987, but allowed to retain his membership in the Politburo.

Chen Liangyu (Chinese: 陈良宇; born October 24, 1946, in Shanghai) is a Chinese politician best known for his tenure as the Party Secretary of Shanghai, the city's top office, and a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, from 2002 to 2006.

Chen worked in Shanghai for his entire public life, serving as mayor from 2001 to 2003. Chen took on numerous mega-projects while he was mayor, including the mass expansion of the Shanghai Subway and the construction of the Yangshan Port. Chen contributed to the city's economic development and was instrumental in Shanghai's bid to host the 2010 World Expo. Chen, a prominent member of the Shanghai clique, was also known for his political partisanship and opposition to the macro-economic control policies of the Hu-Wen Administration.

The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the state, as some of its members concurrently hold the most senior positions within the state council. Historically it has been composed of five to eleven members, and currently has seven members. Its officially mandated purpose is to conduct policy discussions and make decisions on major issues when the Politburo, a larger decision-making body, is not in session. According to the party's constitution, the General Secretary of the Central Committee must also be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

According to the party's Constitution, the party's Central Committee elects the Politburo Standing Committee. In practice, however, this is only a formality. The method by which membership is determined has evolved over time. In turn, the Politburo chooses the Politburo Standing Committee through secretive negotiations. The Standing Committee functions as the epicenter of the CCP's power and leadership, and its membership has ranged from five to nine people. During the Mao Zedong era, Mao himself selected and expelled members, while during the Deng Xiaoping era consultations among party elders on the Central Advisory Commission determined membership. Since the 1990s, Politburo membership has been determined through deliberations and straw polls by incumbent and retired members of both the Politburo and the Standing Committee.

The Secretariat, officially the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a body serving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Politburo and Standing Committee. The secretariat is mainly responsible for carrying out routine operations of the Politburo and coordinating organizations and stakeholders to achieve tasks set out by the Politburo. It is empowered by the Politburo to make routine day-to-day decisions on issues of concern in accordance with the decisions of the Politburo, but it must consult the Politburo on substantive matters.

The secretariat was established in January 1934. It is nominally headed by the CCP general secretary, though the position of head of the secretariat was not always the same as the top party leader. Members of the secretariat (Shujichu Shuji) are considered some of the most important political positions in the CCP and contemporary China, more generally. Each secretariat member is generally in charge of one of the major party departments directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Committee. By protocol, its members are ranked above the vice chairmen of the National People's Congress as well as State Councilors. The general secretary presides over the secretariat's work.

The Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission are deputies to the chairman of the Central Military Commission. Currently, Zhang Youxia is serving as first-ranked vice chairman and Zhang Shengmin is currently serving as second ranked vice chairman. According to military regulations, the vice chairmen are granted the rank of General by the virtue of their posts.

There are technically two offices with the same name, including the vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) CMC and vice chairman of the People's Republic of China (PRC) CMC. However, under the arrangement of "one institution with two names", they function as one office. Since 1997, the vice chairmen have served as the only members of the CCP Politburo holding military rank.

The 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (20th CC), officially the Central Committee of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, comprises 205 members and 171 alternates. It was elected at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s 20th National Congress on 22 October 2022, and its term lasts until the election of the 21st Central Committee at the 21st National Congress, which is planned for 2027. The Central Committee is the party's highest decision-making body in a given period, is not a permanent body, and convenes for an unspecified number of times.

In between sessions of the 20th CC, its powers and responsibilities are delegated to the Politburo, the Politburo Standing Committee and the Central Military Commission (CMC). At its 1st Plenary Session on 22 October, the CC elected the Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee and the CMC. It also endorsed the Politburo Standing Committee's nominees for members of the Secretariat, approved of the composition 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and its Standing Committee and approved the elections of the CCDI secretary and CCDI deputy secretaries.