Political Parties: The Communist Party of China (CPC), which has 63 million members currently, and 8 other minor parties in cooperative and consultative relationships with CPC under the form of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Type of Leadership : Communist Party-led State

CPC, as the party in power, has been leading the Chinese government since the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in October 1,1949.

Theoretically, the party's highest body is the National Congress of CPC, which is supposed to meet at least once every 5 years.

The primary organs of CPC include:

• Secretary-General of the Central Committee
• The Politburo Standing Committee, which currently consists of nine members
• The Politburo, consisting of 24 full members currently, including the members of the Politburo Standing Committee
• The Secretariat, the principal administrative mechanism of the CPC
• The Central Military Commission
• The Discipline Inspection Commission, which is charged with rooting out corruption and malfeasance among party cadres.

The leadership of the 16 th National Congress of CPC:

• The Secretary-General of the Central Committee: Hu Jintao
• Politburo Standing Committee of the Central Committee: Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Huang Ju, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan
• The first Secretary of the Secretariat: Zeng Qinghong
• The Chairman of the Central Military commission: Hu Jintao
• The Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission: Wu Guangzheng

Government Structure: Central government administration

The state organs of China include:

• Organs of state power: the National People's Congress (NPC) and the local people's congress;
• President of the state;
• State administrative organs: the State Council and the local people's governments;
• State military leading organs: the Central Military Commission;
• State judicial organs: the Supreme Court, local courts and special courts;
• State prosecution organs: the Supreme Prosecution, local prosecutions at different levels and special prosecutions.

Under the Chinese constitution, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China. It is elected for a term of five years and meets annually for about 2 weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. These initiatives are presented to the NPC for consideration by the State Council after previous endorsement by the Communist Party's Central Committee. Although the NPC generally approves the State Council policy and personnel recommendations, various NPC committees hold active debate in closed sessions, and changes may be made to accommodate alternate views.

When the NPC is not in session, its permanent organ, the Standing Committee, exercises state power. The Standing Committee of the NPC is composed of the Chairman, Vice-chairman, Secretary-general and members.

The leadership of the present central government of the PRC:

• The President: Hu Jintao
• The Chairman of the National People's Congress: Wu Bangguo
• The Premier of the State Council: Wen Jiabao
• The Chairman of the Central Military Commission: Hu Jintao
• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Xaio Yang
• The Prosecutor-General of the Supreme Prosecution: Jia Chunwang

Administrative Divisions

China is currently divided into 23 provinces (the P.R.C. considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province) , 5 autonomous regions, and 4 centrally administrative municipalities directly under the administration of the State Council. Hong Kong and Macao became special administrative regions of China in 1997 and 1999 respectively.