Editing Chinese Communist Party (section)

===Formal ideology===
{{Further|Generations of Chinese leadership}}
[[File:Marx et Engels à Shanghai.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A monument dedicated to Karl Marx (left) and Friedrich Engels (right) in Shanghai]]

The core ideology of the party has evolved with each distinct [[Generations of Chinese leadership|generation of Chinese leadership]]. As both the CCP and the [[People's Liberation Army]] promote their members according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=Whitson |first=William W. |url=https://archive.org/details/chinesehighcomma0000whit |title=The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-71 |date=1973 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |isbn=978-0-333-15053-5 |language=en}}</ref> In official discourse, each group of leadership is identified with a distinct extension of the ideology of the party. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China by reference to these "generations".{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

[[Marxism–Leninism]] was the first official ideology of the CCP.<ref name="MLT" /> According to the CCP, "Marxism–Leninism reveals the [[Historical materialism|universal laws governing the development of history of human society]]."<ref name="MLT" /> To the CCP, Marxism–Leninism provides a "vision of the [[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|contradictions in capitalist society]] and of the inevitability of a future socialist and communist societies".<ref name="MLT" /> According to the ''[[People's Daily]]'', [[Mao Zedong Thought]] "is Marxism–Leninism applied and developed in China".<ref name="MLT">{{Cite news |date=30 October 2012 |title=Ideological Foundation of the CPC |work=[[People's Daily]] |url=http://english.people.com.cn/206215/206216/7997750.html |url-status=live |access-date=26 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228014526/http://english.people.com.cn/206215/206216/7997750.html |archive-date=28 December 2013}}</ref> Mao Zedong Thought was conceived not only by Mao Zedong, but by leading party officials, according to [[Xinhua News Agency]].<ref name="MaoZedongThought">{{Cite news |author-link=Staff writer |date=26 December 2013 |title=Mao Zedong Thought |agency=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-12/26/c_132996545.htm |access-date=26 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304132852/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-12/26/c_132996545.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

Deng Xiaoping Theory was added to the party constitution at the [[14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|14th National Congress]] in 1992.{{sfn|Vogel|2011|p=684}} The concepts of "[[socialism with Chinese characteristics]]" and "the primary stage of socialism" were credited to the theory.{{sfn|Vogel|2011|p=684}} Deng Xiaoping Theory can be defined as a belief that [[state socialism]] and [[planned economy|state planning]] is not by definition communist, and that market mechanisms are class neutral.{{sfn|Vogel|2011|p=668}} In addition, the party needs to react to the changing situation dynamically; to know if a certain policy is obsolete or not, the party had to "[[seek truth from facts]]" and follow the slogan "practice is the sole criterion for the truth".{{sfn|Chan|2003|p=180}} At the 14th National Congress, Jiang reiterated Deng's mantra that it was unnecessary to ask if something was socialist or capitalist, since the important factor was whether it worked.{{sfn|Vogel|2011|p=685}}

The "Three Represents", Jiang Zemin's contribution to the party's ideology, was adopted by the party at the [[16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|16th National Congress]]. The Three Represents defines the role of the CCP, and stresses that the Party must always represent the requirements for developing China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people."<ref>Selected Works of Jiang Zemin, Eng. ed., FLP, Beijing, 2013, Vol. III, p. 519.</ref>{{sfn|Chan|2003|p=201}} Certain segments within the CCP criticized the Three Represents as being un-Marxist and a betrayal of basic Marxist values. Supporters viewed it as a further development of socialism with Chinese characteristics.{{sfn|Kuhn|2011|pp=108–109}} Jiang disagreed, and had concluded that attaining the communist mode of production, as formulated by earlier communists, was more complex than had been realized, and that it was useless to try to force a change in the mode of production, as it had to develop naturally, by following the "[[Historical materialism|economic laws of history]]."{{sfn|Kuhn|2011|pp=107–108}} The theory is most notable for allowing capitalists, officially referred to as the "new social strata", to join the party on the grounds that they engaged in "honest labor and work" and through their labour contributed "to build[ing] socialism with Chinese characteristics."{{sfn|Kuhn|2011|p=110}}

In 2003, the 3rd Plenary Session of the [[16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party|16th Central Committee]] conceived and formulated the ideology of the [[Scientific Outlook on Development]] (SOD).{{sfn|Izuhara|2013|p=110}} It is considered to be Hu Jintao's contribution to the official ideological discourse.{{sfn|Guo|Guo|2008|p=119}} The SOD incorporates [[scientific socialism]], [[sustainable development]], [[social welfare]], a [[humanism|humanistic]] society, increased democracy, and, ultimately, the creation of a [[Socialist Harmonious Society]]. According to official statements by the CCP, the concept integrates "Marxism with the reality of contemporary China and with the underlying features of our times, and it fully embodies the Marxist worldview on and methodology for development."<ref>{{Cite news |date=19 November 2012 |title=Full text of Hu Jintao's report at 18th Party Congress |work=[[People's Daily]] |url=http://english.people.com.cn/102774/8024779.html |url-status=live |access-date=19 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607164302/http://english.people.com.cn/102774/8024779.html |archive-date=7 June 2013}}</ref>

[[File:A political slogan on the wall in Longhua District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, picture1.jpg|thumb|A billboard advertising Xi Jinping Thought in [[Shenzhen]], Guangdong]]

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, commonly known as Xi Jinping Thought, was added to the party constitution in the [[19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party|19th National Congress]] in 2017.<ref name=":0" /> The theory's main elements are summarized in the ten affirmations, the fourteen commitments, and the thirteen areas of achievements.<ref>{{cite web |title=His own words: The 14 principles of 'Xi Jinping Thought' |url=https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c1dmwn4r |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028152832/https://monitoring.bbc.co.uk/product/c1dmwn4r |archive-date=28 October 2017 |access-date=28 October 2017 |publisher=[[BBC Monitoring]]}}</ref>

The party combines elements of both [[socialist patriotism]]{{sfn|Zhao|2004|p=28}}{{sfn|Löfstedt|1980|p=25}}{{sfn|Li|1995|pp=38–39}}{{sfn|Ghai|Arup|Chanock|2000|p=77}} and [[Chinese nationalism]].{{sfn|Zheng|2012|p=119}}