Museum keeps Cultural Revolution memories alive

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Museum keeps Cultural Revolution memories alive

(Xinhua) 18:46, August 02, 2013

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A newly-published book by a noted Chinese economist has offered a rare glimpse of how the top leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) reshape the world's most populous nation through what the author says as "collective leadership."

In his book "China's Collective Leadership System" published by China Renmin University Press in July, Hu Angang, who is known for his role in advising CPC and state leaders on key issues, reveals the history and the inner working process of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the Party's supreme decision-making body.

An academic at Tsinghua University, Hu tells in a systematic way the history and development of the collective leadership system of the Party, while discussed in details the decision-making mechanism used by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee.

Proposed by late Chairman Mao Zedong, the Standing Committee was established in 1956 as the core of the CPC Central Committee's leadership. However, it was seriously damaged and became ineffective during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), according to the book.

The collective leadership system was restored after the Cultural Revolution. The first plenary session of the 14th CPC Central Committee in 1992 conducted reforms related to the party and the state's leadership, making the Standing Committee the core of the country's collective leadership.

The current Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee is composed of seven members, including Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli.

The book says any official who wishes to join the top decision-making committee must first serve in posts as party chief of a provincial-level region, as well as a major aide of a member of the Standing Committee and member or alternate member of the Political Bureau and Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.

The book adds that officials first gather experience in their provincial-level posts before obtaining guidance, training and evaluation from their superiors on the Standing Committee.

The Standing Committee meets on a regular basis, with each member expressing their own opinions on specific issues, as well as the opinions on behalf of the institutions they are in charge of, according to the book.

Once a collective decision is made by the meeting, members of the Standing Committee convey the decision to institutions they are in charge of so that those institutions can act accordingly, says the book.

Members of the Standing Committee also conduct field studies to aid them in decision-making, including studies of serious natural disasters and major public incidents, according to the book.

Hu concluded in his book that the system with Chinese characteristics has guaranteed a more united, more coordinated, more efficient and more unified collective leadership.

"This is exactly the reason why China has achieved such a huge success in the past decades," he says.