Xu Bin, director of the Marxist Institutional Theory Research Center of Beijing Normal University

Editor's Note: 

July 1, 2025, marks the 104th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Looking back on more than a century of striving, it is under the Party's strong leadership that the Chinese people have continuously turned the "impossible" into the "possible." The historic transformation of the Chinese nation - from standing up, to growing prosperous and becoming strong - has been fundamentally driven by the leadership of the CPC.

The book series of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China contains multiple important speeches on upholding and strengthening the Party's leadership. In the article "Maximize the Institutional Strength of CPC Leadership" included in Volume III of the book series, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, emphasized that governing a large country with more than 1.3 billion people, the Party must improve its leadership systems and mechanisms, give full play to the great strength of leadership by the Party, and shoulder the major responsibilities of carrying out our great struggle, developing our great project, advancing our great cause, and realizing our great dream. Only in this way can we ensure national reunification, uniform laws and policies and consistent market management, achieve economic development, clean political administration, cultural prosperity, social justice and healthy ecosystems, and smoothly advance the causes of Chinese socialism in the new era.

In Volume IV, Xi further stressed in the article titled "Speech at the Ceremony Marking the Centenary of the Communist Party of China" that the leadership of the Party is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and constitutes the greatest strength of this system. It is the foundation and lifeblood of the Party and the country, and the crux upon which the interests and wellbeing of all Chinese people depend.

Looking ahead, only by upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership can we fully build a great modern socialist country in all respects as scheduled and achieve the grand goal of national rejuvenation.

In the seventh installment of the special series "Decoding the Book of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China," the Global Times, along with People's Daily Overseas Edition, focuses on the theme: "Upholding CPC's overall leadership is China's greatest political advantage." We continue to invite Chinese and foreign scholars, translators of Xi's works, practitioners with firsthand experience, and international readers to explore the CPC's institutional strengths and real-world results in theoretical innovation, political development, organizational structure and its people-centered approach - and to collectively answer the question of our times: "Why is the CPC successful?"

This is the sixth article of the "Scholars' Perspectives" column, which features Xu Bin, director of the Marxist Institutional Theory Research Center of Beijing Normal University, also a professor of the School of Marxism at the university. 


The leadership of the Party is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and constitutes the greatest strength of this system. Since entering the new era, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, with profound historical insight and a strong sense of mission, has led the CPC to innovate in theoretical development, political construction, and the mass line, shaping a strong and resilient proletarian party. 

The CPC Central Committee, with Xi Jinping at its core, attaches great importance to the study and adherence to the basic theories of Marxism. For instance, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has organized multiple collective study sessions, focusing on key theoretical works such as dialectical materialism, historical materialism, Marxist political economy, and the Communist Manifesto. At the same time, classic works by Marx and Engels are widely recommended to Party members and cadres, emphasizing to start from the most fundamental theories of Marxism to accurately understand and grasp its essence.

Building on the basis of adhering to the basic positions, viewpoints, and methods of Marxism, the CPC has also continuously advanced theoretical innovation in the new era. Our Party has made many original and fundamental theoretical contributions to Marxism. For example, in the Communist Manifesto, Marx introduced the concept of "world history," pointing out that the development of capitalism broke the boundaries of nations and regions, leading human history to move toward globalization.

Building on this foundation, socialism with Chinese characteristics has put forward the significant concept of "building a community of shared future for mankind." This concept emphasizes strengthening exchanges and mutual learning with countries around the world, and jointly promoting the construction of shared human values. This is not only an inheritance of Marx's "world history" theory but also an important development and elevation in contemporary conditions, reflecting our Party's deepening and innovation of Marxism's fundamental theory.

Marx consistently emphasized the human standpoint, with its core being the pursuit of the liberation of the global proletariat, that is, the liberation of all humankind. Since its founding, the CPC has always adhered to this fundamental position. However, under different historical conditions and in response to various historical tasks, this position has been continuously enriched and expanded.

In the new era, General Secretary Xi has put forward a people-centered philosophy, emphasizing the principle of "putting the people first" and stating that "the country is the people, and the people are the country." These important remarks elevate the Party's commitment to its people to an unprecedented level. 

This series of people-centered development concepts concretely embodies the Marxist stance on the people. These ideas are deeply rooted in the practice of developing socialism with Chinese characteristics and are implemented throughout the historical process of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. They highlight the CPC's unwavering original aspiration and enduring mission.

Throughout the process of reform and opening up, the CPC has consistently upheld that the essence of socialism lies in the liberation and development of social productive forces. In the early stages, the reform policies allowed some people to become prosperous first through legitimate efforts, to spur overall development. This injected strong momentum into China's economic growth. However, as the economy advanced rapidly, a number of deep-rooted issues gradually emerged, such as widening income disparities, corruption, and environmental degradation, which became chronic problems hindering social equity, justice, and sustainable development.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core has confronted these challenges head-on. When there were voices in society claiming that "actions would affect stability," the CPC Central Committee, from the perspective of the long-term development of the Party and the people's cause, firmly exercised full and rigorous Party self-governance and a series of deep-seated reforms. With great political courage and historical responsibility, our Party has continuously promoted the fight against corruption, tackled entrenched internal issues within the Party through institutional construction such as the "eight-point decision" and education on ideals and convictions, and gained widespread public support.

When it comes to addressing the issue of wealth gap, the CPC faced a "tough nut to crack" that involves institutional mechanism reforms and adjusting vested interests, requiring arduous efforts. Yet our Party has always adhered to a people-centered stance, committed to safeguarding and improving people's livelihoods through development, and has achieved historic progress in poverty alleviation.

In regard to ecological civilization, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to it, promoting a profound transformation from concepts to actions. What impressed me deeply is the obvious improvement in air quality in Beijing and my hometown Shandong Province around 2016. When I went to Canada in 2016 as a visiting scholar, the winter air in Beijing was filled with a pungent smell, but when I returned in 2017, I clearly felt that there were more blue skies and fresher air. My hometown has actively promoted the "coal-to-gas" project, with the government subsidizing farmers to gradually achieve clean heating. I have personally experienced these changes.

These transformations did not materialize overnight, but are the result of our Party's adherence to the people-centered development philosophy and its firm commitment to advancing self-reform and deepening reforms to overcome challenges. The CPC has not only led the country onto the path of prosperity and strength, but also has the courage to address the contradictions and problems in development, ensuring that the fruits of development benefit all the people fairly.

As a scholar specializing in Marxism and institutional philosophy, I have had multiple exchanges with Western scholars. During the May Day holidays in 2024, I visited the US for academic exchanges, making stops at the University of Denver and Stanford University. During the exchanges, we had in-depth discussions on issues such as institutional understanding, values, and national governance. 

During my visit, I observed how US legislative bodies operate up close. City council members would discuss specific community issues in various meeting rooms. Although this form of discussion emphasizes democracy in format, it is inefficient—consuming significant time and energy but not necessarily effectively safeguarding public interests. This focus on "procedural democracy" left a deep impression on me.

China's political party system is a system of CPC-led multiparty cooperation and political consultation, with CPC playing a central role. This is the fundamental characteristic of China's new type of political party system. It is the product of integrating Marxist political party theory with China's reality, and can truly, widely and persistently represent and fulfill the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people. It can pool the consensus of various political parties and personages without party affiliation, effectively avoiding the drawbacks of a single party lacking supervision or the vicious competition of multi-party rotation. It can also gather various opinions and suggestions through institutionalized, procedural and standardized arrangements, promoting scientific and democratic decision-making, and effectively avoiding the shortcomings of some political party systems that lead to social division due to decision-making and governance constrained by partisan, social strata, regional and group interests.

I joined the CPC 31 years ago at the age of 26. I was teaching ideological and political education, and history courses, and my job deepened my understanding of CPC's theories and China's education mission, giving rise to my resolve to join the CPC. 

Over the past 31 years, I witnessed China's great progress made under CPC leadership, and the vitality unleashed in economic development and institutional reform. This has made me deeply feel that the Party is leading us in continuous exploration and construction on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, a path that stirs my passion and is full of hope.

Over these 31 years, I have also profoundly realized that the CPC represents the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people, has always been committed to safeguarding and developing people's well-being, and contributing to the development of humanity as a whole. These are the principles I most identify with and admire.