July 1 this year marked the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In a recent article, Xinhua News Agency pointed out that after almost a century, the CPC continues to create recipe for China's success. An edited version of the article follows:

Communism was called a haunting ghost more than a century and a half ago, and few believed the CPC could survive when it was founded in 1921. Now, the world is watching the largest ruling party in the world march toward its first centenary goal.

The CPC celebrated its 96th anniversary on July 1 and the 19th CPC National Congress will be held in the latter half of this year. The congress will elect the leadership for the next five-year term, the critical period for the goal of completing building a well-off nation by the Party's 100th anniversary.

Once the goal is realized, nearly one fifth of the world's population will live in a "moderately prosperous society," or xiaokang in Chinese.

The CPC is confident and determined in achieving that.

Since its founding, the Party has been faced with doubts, misunderstanding and even hostility. Yet, the CPC has emerged as one of the world's most successful and exciting stories.

China was a poor nation scarred by foreign aggression and civil war. It is now the world's second largest economy and a major international player.

The CPC has evolved from a small group of around 50 members to an 89-million member strong party, more than the population of Germany, with 4.5 million primary-level Party organizations.

"Political legitimacy comes from competence and prosperity," said Zhang Weiwei, Director of the Institute of China Studies at Fudan University. "The CPC experience shows that the ultimate test of a good system is how well it ensures good governance as judged by the people of that country."

China is in better shape than at any time in living memory. There is every reason to believe the CPC is leading China back to the center of the world stage, Zhang said.

The core

Last year, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, was endorsed as the core at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. Analysts said the position is key for the Party and the country to keep on the right track of development.

The Chinese need to unify around a core figure, a central leader, as the leader's influence can unite the people and collect wisdom to formulate and implement suitable policies, said Professor Liu Dongchao with the Chinese Academy of Governance.

For the first 14 years of the CPC, the Party was without a strong, core leader, which resulted in repeated setbacks for the revolutionary cause. The Party was almost on the verge of dissolution.

In 1935, leader Mao Zedong established his authority within the CPC Central Committee and the military. Since then, the CPC leadership has been integral to the Party in overcoming difficulties.

Now, Xi is determined to lead China toward the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, having drawn up a plan to promote all-round socialist economic, political, cultural, social and ecological development.

He has proposed the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy and the philosophy of innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development at a time when sustaining fast growth is becoming increasingly difficult. The Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy calls for completing the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects, pursuing an all-round in-depth reform, implementing a comprehensive framework for promoting the rule of law, and launching an all-out effort to enforce strict Party discipline.

Marxism is and must remain the fundamental, guiding principle of the Party. Xi's thoughts on state governance are often called Marxism in modern China, said professor Xin Ming with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

The China path

The CPC created China's recipe for success, officially called "socialism with Chinese characteristics."

It is through this model that the CPC represents the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people and puts the people first.

Reform is pushed forward thanks to decisions that reflect the broad consensus of Chinese society. Social stability is maintained. The market-government relationship, where the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation and the government better serves its duty, is capable of steering the country out of the harm of the current global economic downturn.

This path has gained wide support from the public, thanks largely to the fact that most people have found their living standards significantly improved over the past decades, said Liu.

Liu was echoed by Xin who said Xi's vision of the Chinese dream has united the majority of people in China.

"The Party has inspired a spirit of striving for a better future," Xin said.

As evidence of the success of the China path, more than 700 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the past few decades. In the past more than four years alone, the country has seen over 55 million shake off poverty. The Party has its eyes on the remaining 40 million people still in poverty.

By 2020, people in rural areas should no longer worry about food and clothing, they should be guaranteed education, basic medical care and housing. Every rural resident will be elevated above the current poverty line.

"As long as we pay attention, think correctly, take effective measures and work in a down-to-earth way, abject poverty is absolutely conquerable," Xi said during a June tour of north China's Shanxi Province focusing on poverty.

Confident in its own path, China has no intention of promoting its model as an alternative for other peoples or countries.

Self-improvement

The key to doing things well in China lies in the CPC.

The leadership has repeatedly warned that the biggest threat to the Party is corruption and the CPC must keep improving if it is to remain in power.

Since Xi took the helm as Party leader, an anti-corruption campaign has swept across the country, exposing many officials charged with abuse of power and misusing public funds. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, at least 240 senior officials and more than 1 million lower-level officials have been investigated.

In June, for the first time in history, the CPC completed inspections within a five-year administrative term, covering CPC organizations in provincial-level regions, central CPC and government organs, major state-owned enterprises, central financial institutions and universities.

Internal evaluations have proven effective in exposing problems. More than 50 percent of investigations into centrally administered officials were as a result of information found by discipline inspectors, according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The CPC also launched a series of campaigns in recent years, including the "mass-line," an effort to build a closer official-people relationship, and "three stricts and three earnests," a political campaign that urges officials to be strict in morals, exercising power and disciplining oneself; and be honest in decisions, initiatives and behavior.

The CPC has never been afraid of breaking the shelters of vested interests and sweeping out obstacles hampering development, Zhang said.

Uncertainties ripple through the world today, calling into question the definition of governance legitimacy. In this context, the

CPC's century-old wisdom and practices may be increasingly relevant, he said.

Copyedited by Dominic James Madar

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