Politburo Standing Committee of The Communist Party of China - History

History

The actual power wielded by the PSC has varied widely from period to period. In the early days of the Cultural Revolution, for example, real power was concentrated in the Central Committee Cultural Revolution Group, which was nominally subject to the Politburo Standing Committee but in fact dominated the Standing Committee. In 1969, the Cultural Revolution Group was abolished, with those of its members who were most loyal to Mao Zedong admitted into the PSC. The last years of the Cultural Revolution were dominated by internal chaos, and following Chairman Mao's death in October 1976, only two PSC members continued their official duties; namely, Hua Guofeng (party chairman) and Ye Jianying (vice chairman). Five of the Committee members had died in the preceding year, one (Deng Xiaoping) had been dismissed, and two (as members of the Gang of Four) were "quarantined for investigation".

After taking power in 1978, one of the goals of Deng Xiaoping was to strengthen the power of the party. In 1989 he ordered the military to intervene in the Tiananmen Protests of 1989 against the wishes of a majority of the PSC, and in which the party subsequently ousted a majority of the PSC.

The Standing Committee is selected from the 25-member Politburo which is elected by the Party's central committee. At the 2002 16th Party Congress the Standing Committee was expanded to nine members, but at the 2012 18 Party Congress reduced to seven.