Li Ruihuan, Chairman

Vice-chairmen:

Secretary-general: Zheng Wantong.

The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is the Chinese people's patriotic united front organization, a key institution of multi-party cooperation and political consultations under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and a major form to promote socialist democracy in China's political life.

After the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1945, the CPC and the Kuomintang decided during their negotiations in Chongqing to convene a political consultative conference and organize a new government.

The conference was convened on January 10, 1946 and attended by representatives of the Kuomintang, the CPC, the Democratic League, the Youth Party and noted public figures. In November of the same year, the Kuomintang unilaterally proclaimed the convention of a " National Assembly" in violation of the resolution of the political consultative conference and resulted in the dissolution of the conference. The first session of a new political consultative conference called CPPCC was held in Beijing in September 1949, functioning as the supreme state body.

The session adopted a "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" which bore the nature of a temporary constitution, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), elected the committee of the Central People's Government of the PRC with Mao Zedong as its chairman, and elected the First National Committee of the CPPCC. It also designated the Chinese capital, national flag and national anthem, and decided the way of numbering the years.

In September 1954, the National People's Congress, the supreme institution of state power in China, was set up and the CPPCC then ceased to function to make way for NPC. But it has continued to exist as China's patriotic united front organization with a broad representation and played a vital role in the country's political, economic, cultural and social affairs and international exchanges.

At present, the CPPCC consists of representatives of the CPC and eight non-Communist parties, people without party affiliations, people's organizations, and representatives from ethnic minorities and from all social strata. In addition, there are compatriots from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Macao and Taiwan, returned overseas Chinese, and specially invited people.

The main functions of the CPPCC are political consultation, democratic supervision and participation in and deliberation of state affairs.

Political consultation means conferring on major policies of central and local governments, key policy decisions concerning the country's political, economic, cultural and social affairs before the decisions are made, or main issues involved in the process of carrying them out.

Democratic supervision means supervising, by means of offering suggestions and criticism over the implementation of the China's Constitution, relevant laws, regulations and major policies, over the work of state organs and their functionaries.

The participation in and deliberation of state affairs means to organize various parties, organizations, people from various ethnic groups and social sectors to take part in the country's political, economic, cultural and social life in various forms. The CPPCC has a National Committee and local committees, with a five-year term for committee members. A plenary session is held annually.

The Second Session of the Ninth National Committee of the CPPCC, with a total membership of 2,196, is to be held from March 3 to 11 in Beijing.