19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party

19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party

The flag of the Chinese Communist Party
Date	18–24 October 2017 (6 days)
Location	Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China
Participants	2,280 delegates
Outcome	Election of the 19th Central Committee and 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
Website	www.xinhuanet.com/english/special/19cpcnc/index.htm

The 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (commonly referred to as Shíjiǔ Dà; Chinese: 十九大) was held at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, between 18 and 24 October 2017.^[1] 2,280 delegates represented the party's estimated 89 million members. Preparations for the 19th National Congress began in 2016 and ended with a plenary session of the Central Committee a few days prior to the Congress. In 2016, local and provincial party organizations began electing delegates to the congress as well as receiving and amending party documents. It was succeeded by the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

During the congress, a new guiding ideology, labeled Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, was written into the party's constitution. It marked the first time since Mao Zedong Thought that a living party leader has enshrined into the party constitution an ideology named after himself. The Congress also emphasized strengthening socialism with Chinese characteristics, party-building, socialist rule of law, and setting concrete timelines for achieving development goals, such as building a moderately prosperous society and achieving "socialist modernization." It was also noted for rallying China to play a more substantial role internationally. The congress was also notable for the consolidation of power under Xi Jinping, marked by the removal of term limits from the Chinese constitution.

The 19th National Congress endorsed the membership list of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and elected the Central Committee, which in turn approved the members of the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Five members of the 18th Politburo Standing Committee left the body due to having reached retirement age, and five new members joined the 19th Standing Committee: Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, and Han Zheng.