Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The National Congress of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党全国代表大会 Pinyin: Zhōnguó Gòngchǎndǎng Quánguó Dàibiǎo Dàhuì) is a political convention that is held about once every five years. The National Congress is theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party of China, but in practice decisions are made before the meeting. The National CPC Congress should not be confused with the National People's Congress which is the legislature of the People's Republic of China. In contrast with the NPC which has become more assertive since the 1990s, the National Congress of the CPC has shown no signs of having any real power. In addition the National Congress should not be confused with the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Since the establishment of PRC, the Conferences have occurred approximately every five years and since 1956, they have always taken place in the capital, Beijing. Each Conference lasted for five to ten days. Each Congress's name is abbreviated in Chinese as the number of the Conference, followed by character da (大), short for dahui (大会 "conference"). For example, the sixteenth Conference, Zhōnguó Gòngchǎndǎng Dìshílìucì Quánguó Dàibiǎo Dàhuì (中国共产党第十六次全国代表大会), is shortend to Shílìu Dà (十六大 "sixteenth da"). List of Congresses 1st Congress (Yi da) (一大) Date: July 23- 31, 1921 Location: Shanghai, then South Lake, Jiaxing (嘉興), Zhejiang. Participants Delegates: 12 Party members: 50 Significance: The first outline (綱領) of the Party was passed. 2nd Congress (Er Da) (二大) Date: July 16- 23, 1922 Location: Shanghai Participants Delegates: 12 Represented party members: 195 Significance: 3rd Congress (San Da) (三大) Date: June 12- 20, 1923 Location: Guangzhou Participants Delegates: ~30 Represented party members: 420 Significance: 4th Congress (Si Da) (四大) Date: January 11-January 22, 1925 Location: Shanghai Participants Delegates: 12 Represented party members: 994 Significance: 5th Congress (Wu Da) (五大) Date: April 27-May 9, 1927 Location: Wuhan Participants Delegates: ~80 Represented party members: 579 Significance: 6th Congress (Liu Da) (六大) Date: June 18-July 11, 1928 Location: Moscow Participants Delegates: 84 Alternate delegates: 34 Represented party members: ? Significance: 7th Congress (Qi Da) (七大) Date: April 23-June 11, 1945 Location: Yan'an (延安 yan2 an1), Shaanxi Participants Delegates: 544 Alternate delegates: 208 Represented party members: 121 Significance: Party constitution (黨章) is passed; National flag designed (?). 8th Congress (Ba Da) (八大) Date: September 15- 27, 1956 Location: Beijing Participants Delegates: 1,026 Alternate delegates: 107 Represented party members: 10,730,000 Significance: 9th Congress (Jiu Da) (九大) Date: April 1- 24, 1969 Location: Beijing Participants Delegates: 1,512 Represented party members: 22,000,000 Significance: 10th Congress (Shi Da) (十大) Date: August 24- 28, 1973 Location: Beijing Participants Delegates: 1,249 Represented party members: 28,000,000 Significance: 11th Congress (Shiyi Da) (十一大) Date: August 12- 18, 1977 Location: Beijing Participants Delegates: 1,510 Represented party members: 35,000,000 Significance: Deng Xiaoping reinstated to all of his previous posts 12th Congress (Shi'er Da) (十二大) Date: September 1- 11, 1982 Location: Beijing Participants Delegates: 1,600 Alternate delegates: 149 Represented party members: 39,650,000 Significance: Central Committee (中央委员会), CAC, and Central Regulation and Inspection Committee (中央紀律檢查委員會) were created. 13th Congress (Shisan Da) (十三大) Date: October 25-November 1, 1987 Location: Beijing Participants Full delegates: 1,936 Specially invited delegates: 61 Represented party members: 46,000,000 Significance: 14th Congress (Shisi Da) (十四大) Date: October 12 to 18, 1992 Location: Beijing Participants Full delegates: 1,989 Specially invited delegates: 46 Represented party members: 51,000,000 Significance: 15th Congress (Shiwu Da) (十五大) Date: September 12- 18, 1997 Location: Beijing Participants Full delegates: 2,074 Specially invited delegates: 60 Represented party members: 59,900,000 Significance: Inclusion of Deng Xiaoping's philosophy into Party constitution. President Jiang Zemin announced plans to sell, merge, or close the vast majority of SOEss in a program which included some privatization 16th Congress (Shiliu Da) (十六大) Date: November 8- 15, 2002 Location: Beijing Participants Full delegates: 2,114 Specially invited delegates: 40 Represented party members: ? Significance: Hu Jintao elected General Secretary External links 16th Congress This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.