The party oversees and influences many aspects of people's lives - what they learn at school and watch on TV, their jobs and housing, even the number of children they are allowed.
It is made up largely of government officials, army officers, model workers and farmers.
It is unrepresentative of China as a whole. Only 22% of members are women, 76% are over 35 years old and 37% have a college degree. It is also obsessive about control, regularly showing itself capable of great brutality in suppressing dissent or any challenge to its authority.
Mao remains an important symbol Joining the party brings significant privileges, which explains why membership continues to rise. Members get access to better information, their children get better schooling, and many jobs are only open to members.
Most significantly in China, where personal relationships are often more important than ability, members get to network with decision-makers influencing their careers, lives or businesses.
Pyramid structureTo join, applicants need the backing of existing members and to undergo exhaustive checks and examination by their local party branch. They then face a year's probation, again involving assessments and training.
The party has a pyramid structure resting on millions of local-level party organisations across the country and reaching all the way up to the highest decision-making bodies in Beijing.
In theory, the top of the pyramid is the National Party Congress, which is convened once every five years and brings together more than 2,000 delegates from party organisations across the country.
The congress' main function is to "elect" a central committee of about 200 full members and 150 lower-ranking or "alternate" members", though in fact almost all of these people are approved in advance.
In turn, the central committee's main job is to elect a new politburo and its smaller standing committee, where real decision-making powers lie.
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