The China Zhi Gong Party was founded on 10 October 1925 in San Francisco as a party advocating for federalism and multi-party democracy. In 1926, it moved its headquarters to Hong Kong and was nearly wiped out during the Japanese occupation of the city. The party later gradually moved towards the CCP, attending the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has been a minor party under the leadership of the CCP.
The party's members are mainly returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, as well as people with overseas connections. Some scholars have described the Zhi Gong Party as "gathering non-party voices to support the party". It is the sixth-ranking minor party in China. It currently has 39 seats in the National People's Congress, three seats in the NPC Standing Committee and 65 seats in the CPPCC. Its current chairman is Jiang Zuojun.
History
The founding congress of the China Zhi Gong Party in San Francisco in 1925.Flag used by the China Zhi Gong Party from 1925 to 1950
The China Zhi Gong Party derives from the overseas Hung Society organization "Hung Society Zhigong Hall" or "Chee Kung Tong", based in San Francisco, United States. This organization was one of the key supporters of Sun Yat-sen in his revolutionary efforts to overthrow the Qing dynasty.
The Zhi Gong Party is sometimes used as an intermediary for contacts with certain foreign interests. For example, when a delegation of Paraguayan politicians visited Beijing in 2001 and met Li Peng (despite Paraguay having diplomatic relations not with PRC but with ROC in Taiwan), it was invited not by the PRC government or the CCP, but by the Zhi Gong Party.[3]
In April 2007, Wan Gang, Deputy Chair of the Zhi Gong Party Central Committee, was appointed Ministry of Science and Technology. This was the first non-CCP ministerial appointment in China in 35 years.[4]
The highest body of the China Zhi Gong Party officially is the National Congress, which is held every five years. The 16th National Congress, held in December 2022, was the most recently held Party Congress. The National Congress elects the Central Committee of the China Zhi Gong Party.[5] As of November 2022[update], the party has organizations in 21 province-level administrative divisions throughout China.[8] The party publishes the newspapers China Development[9] and China Zhi Gong.[10]
Composition
According to the State Council Information Office, the China Zhi Gong Party is "mainly composed of the middle and higher ranks of returned overseas Chinese and their relatives, and representatives of people with overseas connections". In November 2022, the party had 69,000 members.[8][7] Some scholars have described the Zhi Gong Party as "gathering non-party voices to support the party".[11]
^"新中国首任部长中的党外人士" [Outsiders of the Party among the first ministers of the new China]. People's Daily. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
^ ab"中国致公党章程" [Constitution of the China Zhi Gong Party]. China Zhi Gong Party. 14 December 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
^"我国八个民主党派排序考". Lishui Municipal Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang. 9 December 2012. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
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