title: Genesis (band)

text: In September 1976, Genesis relocated to Relight Studios at Hilvarenbeek in the Netherlands with Hentschel to record "Wind & Wuthering". It was put together in a short amount of time and a considerable amount of material was written beforehand, of which the most suitable songs were picked for development. Rutherford spoke of the band's conscious effort to distance themselves from songs inspired by fantasy, something that their past albums "were full of". The band spent roughly six weeks writing the album with a basic form of each track put down in twelve days. Additional recording and production work was done at Trident Studios that October. Hackett, having already released a solo album, enjoyed the greater amount of control over the recording process that working within a group could not provide. He felt his songs, including "Please Don't Touch" (which he later released on his second album "Please Don't Touch!") were rejected from the final track order in favour of material that Banks, in particular, had put forward. Collins spoke of the situation, "We just wanted to use what we agreed was the strongest material, irrespective of who wrote it". "Wind & Wuthering" was released in December 1976 and reached No. 6 in the UK and No. 26 in the US. Rutherford's track, "Your Own Special Way", became its sole single and went to No. 43 in the UK. Its B-side is "It's Yourself", originally intended for "A Trick of the Tail".


title: Genesis (band)

text: Prior to the 1977 tour, Bruford declined an offer to return as second drummer, leaving Collins searching for a replacement. He heard American drummer Chester Thompson, of Frank Zappa's band and Weather Report, play a drum passage on "More Trouble Every Day" from Zappa's live album "Roxy & Elsewhere". Collins said, "It floored me completely ... I had never met him. I rang him up and said, 'Hi Chester, I've heard your stuff, would you like to play with Genesis?' ... He didn't even audition!" Genesis toured "Wind & Wuthering" from January to July 1977 across Europe, North America, and for the first time, Brazil. The stage show cost £400,000 (equivalent to £ in 2022). which featured a new PA system, lasers and smoke, and lighting supplied from two rows of Boeing 747 aircraft landing lights. Touring began on 1 January with three sold-out shows at the Rainbow Theatre in London, where 80,000 applications were made for the 8,000 available tickets. They returned to London for three nights at Earls Court, then the largest arena in Britain, supported by Richie Havens. The band's growing popularity in North America led to television appearances and concerts organised in larger venues than previous tours, including Madison Square Garden in New York City. Their Brazilian dates were attended by over 150,000 people and a proposed 100,000-person gig was cancelled over rioting fears. An armed bodyguard accompanied each member throughout their stay.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In May 1977 Genesis released "Spot the Pigeon", an extended play of three tracks left off "Wind & Wuthering". It peaked at No. 14 on the UK singles chart. It was the final Genesis release before Hackett left the group. He had been writing more material on his own and found it increasingly difficult to contribute more of his ideas within a group context. He wished to embark on a solo career and "take the risk in order to find out just how good I was on my own". News of Hackett's departure coincided with the band's double live album "Seconds Out", recorded in Paris on the "A Trick of the Tail" and "Wind & Wuthering" tours and released in October 1977. It reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 47 in the US.


title: Genesis (band)

text: By the time "Seconds Out" was released, Banks, Rutherford, and Collins had already recorded "...And Then There Were Three...", the first Genesis album recorded as a trio, in September 1977 at Relight Studios with Hentschel as producer. It was then mixed at Trident Studios in London. In order to put across a greater number of musical ideas, the album is a collection of shorter songs. Most of its eleven songs were written individually; Banks contributed four, Rutherford three, Collins one, and the remaining three were written collectively. Their new material signalled a change in the band's sound with songs becoming more pop-oriented, including the group-written track "Follow You Follow Me". Collins recalled it was the only song on the album written from scratch during rehearsals. Rutherford felt comfortable taking on lead guitar duties in addition to his usual rhythm and bass roles, although the band had considered auditioning replacement guitarists or using a session guitarist on the album. Collins later saw the album as "a very vocal, solid album" that lacked more rhythmic tracks like "Los Endos" or songs from "Wind & Wuthering", as coming up with ideas on the drums while living in his flat in Ealing with his family was difficult.


title: Genesis (band)

text: "...And Then There Were Three..." was released in March 1978. It received some mixed reviews from critics at the time owing to the album only containing short songs, which excited new fans but disillusioned those who had been used to the band's previous work. Chris Welch wrote a positive review in "Melody Maker", citing a "remarkably powerful" album. It was a commercial success and peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 14 in the US. "Follow You Follow Me" was released as its lead single and reached No. 7 in the UK and No. 23 in the US, their highest-charting single in both countries since their formation. Its success introduced the band to a new audience, including a larger female interest, helped by its music video airing on "Top of the Pops". Its success caused some fans to accuse the group of selling out to more commercial music. A follow-up single, "Many Too Many", was less successful, for it had already appeared on the album.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In the search for a new touring guitarist, Rutherford tried out Pat Thrall and Elliot Randall, followed by Alphonso Johnson of Weather Report, but he was primarily a bassist and could not play Hackett's lead guitar parts comfortably. Johnson then suggested American guitarist Daryl Stuermer of Jean-Luc Ponty's jazz fusion group, who was more comfortable with various guitar styles. During Stuermer's rehearsal in New York City, Rutherford was satisfied with his performance after they played through "Down and Out" and "Squonk". When Stuermer was chosen, he familiarised himself with a list of 26 songs he was asked to learn by going through five per day. The "...And Then There Were Three..." tour ran from March to December 1978 and visited North America, Europe, and for the first time, Japan. It cost an estimated £2 million to stage (equivalent to £ in 2022). which included the sound system, light and laser displays, and additional effects from six computer-controlled mirrors, all of which took eight hours to set up and five to dismantle. One of their shows featured a guest appearance from Gabriel, who sang "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)". In June, Genesis headlined the year's Knebworth Festival, their only UK show that year.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In December 1978, Genesis began a period of inactivity as Collins's marriage was at risk of collapse after touring had made him frequently absent from his wife and children. Following a meeting with Banks, Rutherford and Smith, Collins went to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to try and rebuild the family. He explained: "I was never going to leave the band. It was just that if I was going to be living in Vancouver then we'd have had to organise ourselves differently." Banks and Rutherford decided to put Genesis on an extended break and make their respective debut solo albums, "A Curious Feeling" and "Smallcreep's Day", at Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. In April 1979, Collins returned to the UK after his attempt to save his marriage failed. With time to spare before working on a new Genesis album, Collins performed with Brand X, played the drums on former bandmate Peter Gabriel's third album, and started writing his own first solo album, "Face Value", at his home in Shalford, Surrey.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 1979, Banks and Rutherford moved into Collins's home in Shalford to write and rehearse material for "Duke". The three found the writing process easier and less complicated than "And Then There Were Three". Rutherford reasoned that this was the case because they were "getting back to the basic stage of ideas being worked on jointly". Banks put it down to their break in activity, resulting in "good ideas ... which hasn't happened for some time". "Duke" continued the band's transition into writing shorter songs. Each member contributed two songs for the group to develop: Banks put forward "Heathaze" and "Cul-de-Sac", Rutherford used "Man of Our Times" and "Alone Tonight", and Collins had "Misunderstanding" and "Please Don't Ask". All three wrote the remaining five tracks, including "Duchess", the first Genesis song to feature a drum machine, specifically a Roland CR-78 imported from Japan. In its original form, the album was to contain a 30-minute track based on a fictional character named Albert, but the idea was cancelled to avoid comparisons to "Supper's Ready" from "Foxtrot". In November, the band recorded "Duke" at Polar Studios with Hentschel reprising his role as producer, and included a cover from French illustrator Lionel Koechlin, featuring the character Albert.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Released in March 1980, "Duke" was the band's biggest commercial success at the time of release, spending two weeks at No. 1 in the UK and peaking at No. 11 in the US. The album spawned three singles; "Turn It On Again" went to No. 8 in the UK, "Misunderstanding" reached No. 14 in the US, and "Duchess" peaked at No. 46 in the UK. "Duke" was supported with a UK and North American tour from April to June 1980, which began with a 40-date tour of the UK for which all 106,000 tickets were sold within hours of going on sale.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In November 1980, Genesis bought Fisher Lane Farm, a farmhouse with an adjoining cowshed near Chiddingfold, Surrey, as their new rehearsal and recording facility. The building was remodelled into a studio in four months before recording for "Abacab" began in March 1981. The new environment had a productive effect on the writing process as the band wrote enough for a double album, but they discarded one hour's worth of songs that sounded too similar to their past albums. Banks said the band made an effort to keep melodies as simple as possible, which signalled further changes in their direction. The shift was underlined in its production when Hentschel, their producer and engineer since 1975, was replaced by Hugh Padgham after Collins liked his production on "Face Value" and Gabriel's third solo album. Production duties were solely credited to the band for the first time with Padgham as their engineer. The album is formed of group written material with an individual song from each member. "No Reply at All" features the Phenix Horns, the horn section of American band Earth, Wind & Fire.


title: Genesis (band)

text: "Abacab" was released in September 1981 and reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in the US. Three singles from the album entered the top forty in both countries; "Abacab" reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 26 in the US, "No Reply at All" reached No. 29 in the US, and "Keep It Dark", a European-only single, went to No. 33 in the UK. "Abacab" was supported with a tour of Europe and North America from September to December 1981, ending with shows at Wembley Arena and the NEC Birmingham. The tour marked the band's first use of the Vari-Lite, a computer-controlled intelligent lighting system. Following a demonstration at The Farm, the band and Smith showed an immediate interest in the technology and became shareholders of the company. In May 1982, three tracks recorded during the "Abacab" sessions – "Paperlate", "You Might Recall", and "Me and Virgil" – were released as an EP in Europe, "3×3", which peaked at No. 10 in the UK. Its cover is a homage to the "Twist and Shout" EP by the Beatles, with sleeve notes written by that group's former publicist Tony Barrow.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In June 1982, Genesis released the double live album "Three Sides Live" in two different versions. The North American edition contains three sides of live recordings with the fourth comprising the "3×3" tracks and two from the "Duke" sessions. The European release contains a fourth side of extra live tracks. The album coincided with the home video release of the "Three Sides Live" concert film recorded in 1981. A tour of North America and Europe followed that ran from August to September 1982, featuring guest appearances from Bill Bruford and the Phenix Horns. On 2 October, Genesis headlined a one-off concert with Gabriel at the Milton Keynes Bowl under the name Six of the Best. The concert was organised to raise money for Gabriel's World of Music, Arts and Dance project that was, by that point, in considerable debt. Hackett, who flew in from abroad, arrived in time to perform the last two songs.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Work on the twelfth Genesis album, "Genesis", began in March 1983 with Padgham returning as engineer. It was the first album written, recorded, and mixed at the remodelled studio at the Farm. Banks remembered the band were scarce for new musical ideas that "felt at times as though we were stretching the material as far as we could". "Mama" concerns a man's obsession with a prostitute at a Cuban brothel. It originated from a beat Rutherford came up with on a LinnDrum machine that was fed through his guitar amplifier and an echo gate. Collins' laugh on the track originated from "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Released in October 1983, "Genesis" went to No. 1 in the UK and peaked at No. 9 in the US, where it reached Platinum by December that year and went on to sell over four million copies. Three tracks were released as singles; "Mama" reached No. 4 in the UK, their highest-charting UK single to date, and "That's All" reached No. 6 in the US. The Mama Tour ran from late 1983 through to 1984, covering North America and five UK shows in Birmingham. The latter shows were filmed and released as "Genesis Live – The Mama Tour".


title: Genesis (band)

text: In February 1984, Genesis took a break in activity to allow each member to continue with their solo careers. Rutherford formed his group Mike + The Mechanics, Banks worked on his solo album "Soundtracks", and Collins released "No Jacket Required", which achieved worldwide success and increased his popularity as a result. The music press took note that Collins' success as a solo artist made him more popular than Genesis. Before the release of "No Jacket Required", Collins insisted that he would not leave the band. "The next one to leave the band will finish it", Collins told "Rolling Stone" magazine in May 1985. "I feel happier with what we're doing now, because I feel it's closer to me. I won't be the one." He added, "Poor old Genesis does get in the way sometimes. I still won't leave the group, but I imagine it will end by mutual consent." In June, Collins spoke of the band's intention to start work on a new album that year, ending rumours to a false announcement that aired on BBC Radio 1 suggesting Genesis had split.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Genesis reconvened at The Farm in October 1985 to start work on "Invisible Touch", which lasted for six months. They continued their method of songwriting used on "Genesis" by developing material from group improvisations. Banks remembered the time as a strong period creatively for the band, with ideas "flowing out of us". "Invisible Touch" was developed in such a way, when the group were working on "The Last Domino", the second part of "Domino". During the session, Rutherford began to play an improvised guitar riff to which Collins replied with an off-the-cuff lyric – "She seems to have an invisible touch" – which became the song's chorus hook.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Following its release in June 1986, the album spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK and reached No. 3 in the US, and became the best-selling Genesis album with seven million copies sold. The album's five singles – "Invisible Touch", "Throwing It All Away", "Land of Confusion", "In Too Deep", and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" – entered the top five on the US singles chart between 1986 and 1987 with "Invisible Touch" topping the chart for one week. Genesis became the first group and foreign act to achieve this feat, equalling the five singles record set by Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Madonna. Genesis commissioned the creators of the satirical British television show "Spitting Image", Peter Fluck and Roger Law, to make puppets of them in the style of the show for the video of "Land of Confusion".


title: Genesis (band)

text: The Invisible Touch Tour was the band's largest world tour in its history, which included 112 dates from September 1986 to July 1987. Genesis received some criticism in their decision to have Michelob beer as a sponsor. The tour concluded with four consecutive sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in London. The shows were released in 1988 as "The Invisible Touch Tour". When the tour ended, Genesis took a five-year break while each member committed to their solo projects. They performed twice during this time; on 14 May 1988, they performed a 20-minute set at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden. This was followed by a set at a charity gig at the 1990 Knebworth Festival on 30 June, headlined by Pink Floyd.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 1991 Genesis recorded their fourteenth album, "We Can't Dance", from March to September with their new engineer and co-producer, Nick Davis. The band took advantage of the increased capacity the CD offered and released over 71 minutes of new music across 12 tracks. Collins wrote the lyrics to "Since I Lost You" for his friend Eric Clapton following the death of Clapton's four-year-old son Conor. Following the release of "We Can't Dance" in November 1991, the album went to No. 1 in the UK for one week and No. 4 in the US, where it went on to sell over 4 million copies.


title: Genesis (band)

text: The album spawned several hit singles; "No Son of Mine" went to No. 6 in the UK and "I Can't Dance" reached No. 7 in the UK and the US. In 1993, "We Can't Dance" was nominated for a Brit Award for Best British Album.


title: Genesis (band)

text: The "We Can't Dance" tour visited North America and Europe from May to November 1992 with each concert attended by an average of 56,000 people. The tour spawned two live albums; "" reached No. 3 in the UK and "" went to No. 1 in the UK. A live home video, also titled "The Way We Walk", documented one of the band's six consecutive shows at Earl's Court during November 1992. Following the tour, the band took a break in activity. Banks, Rutherford, and Collins performed at Cowdray Castle, Midhurst in September 1993 for a money-raising event with Pink Floyd touring guitarist Tim Renwick and drummer Gary Wallis and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. Rutherford also played bass on Pink Floyd's set at the same concert.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In March 1996, Collins announced his departure from Genesis. In a statement, he said, "Having been in Genesis for 25 years, I felt it time to change direction in my musical life. For me now, it will be music for movies, some jazz projects, and of course my solo career. I wish the guys in Genesis all the very best in their future. We remain the best of friends."


title: Genesis (band)

text: Shortly after Banks and Rutherford decided to continue Genesis in 1996, they went to The Farm to start writing "Calling All Stations". Rutherford initially found the sessions difficult as he saw Collins as "the guy in the middle" who made Banks and himself work better. Their best ideas developed in this period were put forward while they auditioned new singers, including Francis Dunnery and Nick Van Eede. The two main contenders, David Longdon (later of Big Big Train) and Scottish singer Ray Wilson of Stiltskin, auditioned throughout 1996, which involved singing along to Genesis tracks with the lead vocals removed. Wilson was announced as the new Genesis singer in June 1997. Though much of the album was already written by the time he joined, Banks was pleased with his contributions to the album, which included writing the lyrics to "Small Talk" and riffs on "Not About Us" and "There Must Be Some Other Way". Banks and Rutherford opted for two drummers on "Calling All Stations" – Israeli session musician Nir Zidkyahu and Nick D'Virgilio of Spock's Beard.


title: Genesis (band)

text: "Calling All Stations" was released in September 1997. It was a success in Europe, where it reached No. 2 in the UK, but the album only reached No. 54 in the US, their lowest charting album there since "Selling England by the Pound". A single from the album, "Congo" reached the top 30 in the UK and Genesis completed a European tour from January to May 1998, adding Zidkyahu on drums and Irish guitarist Anthony Drennan. A North American tour was planned but was cancelled following its poor commercial response and lack of ticket sales, which led to Banks and Rutherford announcing in 2000 that the group would no longer be recording and touring.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 1998, Banks, Collins, Gabriel, Hackett, Phillips, Rutherford, and Silver gathered for a photo session and dinner to celebrate the release of the four-disc box set, "Genesis Archive 1967–75". The set features "Supper's Ready" and "It" with new overdubs by Gabriel and Hackett. In 1999, Banks, Collins, Rutherford, Hackett, and Gabriel released a new version of "The Carpet Crawlers" for the compilation album "". On 21 September 2000, Collins, Banks, Rutherford reunited at the Music Managers Forum, in honour of their manager Tony Smith. Gabriel attended the ceremony but chose not to perform. Genesis briefly performed at Gabriel's wedding in 2002. In 2004, Genesis released "Platinum Collection", a three-disc compilation album covering the band's career that reached No. 21 in the UK.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In a press conference held in London in November 2006, Banks, Rutherford, and Collins announced their reunion for the , their first with Collins in fourteen years. They revealed the initial plan of touring "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" with Gabriel and Hackett. The five met in Glasgow in November 2004 to discuss the idea further, but it never developed further as Gabriel was unable to commit due to other projects. Instead, Banks, Rutherford and Collins decided to proceed with Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer returning on drums and guitar, respectively. In March 2007, a press conference was held in New York City to announce the North American leg.


title: Genesis (band)

text: The Turn It On Again Tour featured a stage designed by architect Mark Fisher with a lighting display by Patrick Woodroffe, included a 55-metre long LED backdrop formed of 9 million LED lights. The European leg saw close to 400,000 tickets sold in 40 minutes for shows in Germany and the Netherlands. The European leg ended with a free concert on 14 July at the Circus Maximus in Rome in front of around half a million people. This was filmed, and released on DVD the following year as "When in Rome 2007". A live album formed of recordings from various European dates was released in 2007 as "Live over Europe 2007". On 7 July, the band played at the Live Earth concert in London at Wembley Stadium.


title: Genesis (band)

text: The band's autobiography "Genesis Chapter & Verse" was published in 2007 as a full colour 359 page hardback book. The writing credits were Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, and Mike Rutherford, edited by Philip Dodd.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 2007, the band's studio albums from "Trespass" to "Calling All Stations" were digitally remastered by Nick Davis across three box sets: "Genesis 1970–1975", "Genesis 1976–1982" and "Genesis 1983–1998". Each album is presented as a two-disc set containing a CD/Super Audio CD of a new stereo mix and a DVD with a 5.1 surround sound mix and bonus features including previously unreleased live performances, interviews, and concert programs. Two more box sets followed in 2009, "Genesis Live 1973–2007", which collected all of the band's live albums, and "Genesis Movie Box 1981–2007", which compiled all of the band's live home video releases.


title: Genesis (band)

text: After 2011, Genesis members expressed mixed opinions about a reunion. Collins retired from the music industry as an active musician that year in favour of family commitments, and has stated he can no longer play the drums due to medical issues. Hackett has said "I would say it's possible, but highly improbable. I've always been open to it. I'm not the guy who says no." Gabriel addressed the possibility of a reunion: "I never say never. It really didn't happen last time. I think there's a small chance, but I don't think it's very high." In 2014, Collins reiterated, "Have people thought it through? It's not as if you're going to get Peter as the singer, me as the drummer. I can't play any more, so it's never going to happen", adding it would not be likely for Gabriel to perform songs on which Collins originally sang lead vocals.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 2014, Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Collins and Hackett reunited for "", a BBC documentary about the band's history and the various solo albums the members have released. Although he participated in the documentary and promoted it, Hackett was critical following its broadcast, saying that it was biased and did not give him editorial involvement, adding that it ignored his solo work despite his speaking at length about it. The documentary also did not cover Ray Wilson's time in Genesis. Hackett remains cynical about a Genesis reunion, saying: "Look at the documentary and you'll get an idea of the priorities that come across."


title: Genesis (band)

text: In 2015, Collins announced an end to his retirement, and speculated a reunion with Banks and Rutherford would be possible, a view that Banks endorsed. In 2017, Rutherford said he was also amenable to a reunion tour if Collins was interested. Hackett said he would like a reunion of Genesis's 1971–1975 line-up, but stressed it was very unlikely, adding "I won't say any more because I don't want to raise expectations." Collins published his autobiography in 2016, and stated in the introduction that he retired from Genesis in 2007.


title: Genesis (band)

text: On 23 January 2020, Collins, Banks and Rutherford were spotted together at a basketball game in New York City's Madison Square Garden, sparking rumours about a possible Genesis reunion. On 4 March, the trio announced their reformation and The Last Domino? Tour on Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 show. The tour was originally planned for seventeen dates across the UK and Ireland between November and December of the same year, with longtime touring guitarist/bassist Daryl Stuermer and Collins's son Nic on drums. Their usual touring drummer, Chester Thompson, was not invited, and said he had not spoken to Collins in ten years. The tour was rescheduled twice due to the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, firstly from April 2021 and then from September 2021. Collins asserted that the tour would be his last with Genesis due to his health issues, and said there were no plans for the band to record new music, but added: "Never say never". A North American leg was later added for November 2021, following the UK leg. The tour was supported with the release of a greatest hits set "The Last Domino? – The Hits".


title: Genesis (band)

text: The tour began on 20 September 2021. On 8 October, with four dates remaining, the UK leg was postponed due to a positive test for COVID-19 in the band. The dates were rescheduled for March 2022, ending with three shows in London on 24–26 March. Genesis performed their final concert of The Last Domino? Tour on 26 March in London. Gabriel was in attendance, but did not join the band on stage.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In September 2022, Genesis announced that they had sold a portion of their music rights to Concord for an estimated £270 million. The deal includes publishing copyrights and streaming income from their post-1978 output, and solo albums by Banks, Rutherford, and Collins.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Genesis identify first and foremost as songwriters. Though styles changed dramatically over the group's career, they were always built on musical contrasts and the willingness to experiment.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Members of the original line-up were exposed to classical and church music as well as rock artists of the 1960s, particularly the Beatles. Gabriel's vocal style was influenced by Otis Redding and other Stax artists. Some of Genesis's music was inspired by blues according to Hackett, who says that the sonic innovation of the electric guitar in the early 1970s came straight from this. In their early years, Genesis' music combined elements of the pop, folk, and psychedelic genres. Several songs developed during Phillips' time in the band originated on 12-string guitars, often with unconventional tunings. By the 1970s, the group began to include fantasy and surreal elements in their lyrics, such as "The Musical Box". "Nursery Cryme" marks the first time electric instruments were used more extensively. "A Trick of the Tail" marked a return to the band's roots with acoustic passages and songs inspired by fantasy.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Early lyrics drew from psychedelia, fantasy, mythological figures, and fairytale themes. Gabriel emerged as one of the band's main lyricists who often incorporated puns and double entendres in his lines and track titles and addressed various themes including social commentary. "Selling England by the Pound" contains references to English culture of the time including "Aisle of Plenty", where four British supermarket chains are referenced to reflect the album's theme of commercialism. Literary sources are used as inspiration for many Genesis tracks; "The Cinema Show" is based on T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land", and Arthur C. Clarke's novel "Childhood's End" inspired the lyrics to "Watcher of the Skies".


title: Genesis (band)

text: By the time the group had slimmed down to the trio of Banks, Rutherford and Collins, they had decided to change lyrical styles, dealing more with everyday matters which connected with female fans. Collins' songs, in particular, were personal in nature. However, the group still featured humour in songs such as "Illegal Alien", and dealt with serious themes such as politics on "Land of Confusion" and commercialisation on "I Can't Dance".


title: Genesis (band)

text: Banks has said that a common way of developing songs throughout the band's career was for Collins to play the rhythm, Rutherford to set up a groove and riffs, and for him to add the harmonies and melodies on top. He cites the "Apocalypse in 9/8" section of "Supper's Ready", "The Cinema Show" and "Domino" as examples of this, and says the restrictions it gave him allowed the group to produce straightforward pop songs such as "Invisible Touch" and "Land of Confusion" in later years.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Banks has used a number of keyboards during Genesis' career, continually trying out new models, though he has used the piano regularly throughout the group's lifetime. In the 1970s he frequently used the Hammond organ, Hohner Pianet, Mellotron, RMI Electronic Piano and ARP Pro Soloist. In the 1980s, he used the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet 10, the ARP Quadra and various Korg synthesizers. For the Turn It On Again tour in 2007, his main keyboard was a Korg OASYS. As both a guitarist and bassist, Rutherford regularly swapped between the two roles, and his trademark instrument with Genesis, particularly through the 1970s, was a double-neck guitar. In the 1980s and beyond, he favoured the Eric Clapton Stratocaster.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Genesis have been estimated to have sold between 100 and 150 million albums worldwide. Their total certified album sales include 21.5 million in the US, 7.2 million in the UK, 5.6 million in Germany, and 3.4 million in France. Genesis have been awarded eleven Gold and four Multi-Platinum albums in the UK, while in the US they have seven Gold, two Platinum, and four Multi-Platinum albums.


title: Genesis (band)

text: In March 2010, Genesis were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. The band's awards include a Silver Clef Award for outstanding contributions to British music at its second annual ceremony in 1977. In 1988, the band received one of the only two Grammy Awards issued for the short-lived Best Concept Music Video category for "Land of Confusion". In September 2012, a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to the band at the inaugural Progressive Music Awards. In 2004, "Q" ranked Genesis as the seventeenth-biggest band in a list compiled based on album sales, time spent on the UK charts, and largest audience for a headlining show. Genesis were honoured at the second VH1 Rock Honors in May 2007, which featured Banks, Rutherford and Collins. In 2008, the band received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Mojo Awards.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Genesis were targets for criticism throughout the 1970s from those who disliked progressive rock. Influential BBC DJ John Peel championed the band in their early years and they performed three sessions for him between 1970 and 1972, but he "grew disillusioned with their later excesses". Some regarded the group as overtly middle-class, paying particular attention to the founder members' private education, and claimed rock music was being taken away from the working class, whom they regarded as its core audience. Likening his background to that of the punk artist Joe Strummer, who had become a "people's hero" musician, Gabriel stated in 2013, "To this day, we've never outgrown the snotty rich-kid thing ... we were always very straight about where we came from, and we were middle-class, not aristocratic." Gabriel's theatrics were unpalatable to some of the mainstream rock audience, resulting in a cult following rather than that of a mainstream rock band.


title: Genesis (band)

text: At their commercial peak in the 1980s, the music of Genesis faced the accusation of being "flabbergastingly insignificant" by leading American music critic Robert Hilburn, and it has been described as "barely distinguishable" from Collins's solo work. According to "Rolling Stone"s Erik Hedegaard, Collins in particular was blamed by those who accused the band of selling out. Retrospectively, "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" critic J. D. Considine documented how the band had been "largely ignored" by the music press and public in their earliest years, before being "derided as middlebrow throwbacks still in thrall to the pomposities of art rock" in the late 1970s and then dismissed as "easy-listening lightweights" in the 1980s. He argued this was unfair, as the band had made their "share of mediocre albums" but no bad ones. Critics, though, disagree about which albums were mediocre; Considine cites "Selling England by the Pound" as one of the band's three worst (those meriting 2 stars out of 5), while the AllMusic Guide picks it as one of their three best.


title: Genesis (band)

text: Journalists have reported that fans preferring one era of the band strongly dislike others. Rock author Colin McGuire has described the arguments from fans of the Gabriel era as "they sold out and became too corporate when Collins stepped into the spotlight", while fans of the Collins era argue "the Gabriel years were boring and hard to stomach". He concluded both eras of the band should be judged on their own merits. The band themselves have been aware of these divides; press interviews for "Abacab" explicitly stated that fans of "Foxtrot" might not like the album, but should keep an open mind. Ultimate Classic Rock stated, "There are few groups in the classic-rock canon with a more divisive discography than Genesis ... there's no arguing that they helped create the template for prog-rock and made some of the genre's most essential albums", but continued "the Genesis sound gradually grew less and less progressive, until the band became a straight-up pop act. Good luck finding anybody out there who's equally enamored of both sides of the band's story." On their legacy, "Q" reviewer Andy Fyfe wrote in 2007 that "little of the band's output has aged well" and "transcends in the way real classics do", stating they would "remain perennial whipping boys for decades to come". However, "The Daily Telegraph" chief rock music critic Neil McCormick has said that Genesis were "a daring and groundbreaking band (certainly in their early career)", described Collins as "an outstanding drummer" and stated that "after Gabriel left, he stepped up to prove himself a charismatic frontman with a very distinctive vocal character".


title: Genesis (band)

text: Genesis have been cited as a principal influence on the neo-progressive rock subgenre that emerged in the 1980s, featuring bands including Marillion and Pallas. Steve Hackett's work in Genesis influenced guitarists such as Brian May of Queen, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen. Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris cites Gabriel-era Genesis as one of his main influences, describing "Supper's Ready" (along with Jethro Tull's song "Thick as a Brick") as one of his two favourite pieces of music of all time in an interview with "Prog". Genesis were also an influence on post-punk artists such as Simple Minds and Will Sergeant, guitarist of Echo & the Bunnymen, as well as the electronic new wave band The Human League. Trey Anastasio of Phish said "It's impossible to overstate what impact this band and musical philosophy had on me as a young musician. I'm forever in their debt." Mostly Autumn "fuse the music of Genesis and Pink Floyd with Celtic themes" in their sound. The alternative rock band Elbow acknowledge Genesis as an influence, such as on their breakthrough song "Newborn".


title: Genesis (band)

text: There are a number of Genesis tribute bands, including ReGenesis who focus on the group's 1970s music. The most successful act is the Canadian-French band The Musical Box, who have been officially endorsed by the band and had Hackett and Collins perform as guests with them. Gabriel took his children to see the Musical Box so "they could see what their father did back then", while Hackett said "They not only manage to sound, but look virtually identical".


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: Matthew Steven LeBlanc (; born July 25, 1967) is an American actor. He garnered global recognition with his portrayal of Joey Tribbiani in the NBC sitcom "Friends" and in its spin-off series, "Joey". For his work on "Friends", LeBlanc received three nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also starred as a fictionalized version of himself in "Episodes" (2011–2017), for which he won a Golden Globe Award and received four additional Emmy Award nominations. He co-hosted "Top Gear" from 2016 to 2019. From 2016 to 2020, he played patriarch Adam Burns in the CBS sitcom "Man with a Plan."


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc was born in Newton, Massachusetts. His mother, Patricia (née Di Cillo), was an office manager; his father, Paul LeBlanc, was a mechanic. His father is of French-Canadian descent and his mother is of Italian ancestry. He attended Newton North High School, where he graduated in the same year as future comedian Louis C.K. After high school he attended college at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He dropped out shortly after starting his second semester.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc moved to New York at the age of 17 to pursue a career in modeling, but he was told he was too short to be in the industry. His acting career began after a woman invited him to accompany her to an audition, where he ended up getting signed by her manager. Although he had booked commercials and television and film roles before "Friends", he was reportedly down to his last eleven dollars before landing the role of Joey Tribbiani.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc first appeared in a 1987 Heinz Tomato Ketchup commercial. In 1988, he starred in the television drama "TV 101" for one season. In 1991, he had a recurring role on the hit Fox sitcom "Married... with Children". He played Vinnie Verducci, a family friend of protagonist Al Bundy (Ed O'Neill) who briefly dates his daughter, Kelly (Christina Applegate). He also guest-starred in the first season of "Red Shoe Diaries". LeBlanc went on to star in two short-lived "Married... with Children" spin-offs: "Top of the Heap" (1991) and "Vinnie & Bobby" (1992).


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: He appeared in two Bon Jovi music videos: "Miracle," from the "Young Guns II" soundtrack in 1990, and "Say It Isn't So" in 2000. He also appeared in videos for Alanis Morissette's single "Walk Away," and Bob Seger's "Night Moves".


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc found success as the dimwitted but lovable Joey Tribbiani on "Friends"; he played this character for 12 years — 10 seasons of "Friends" and two seasons of "Joey". "Friends" was wildly successful, and LeBlanc (along with co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer) gained wide recognition among viewers. This ensemble situation comedy became a major hit for NBC, airing on Thursday nights for ten years.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: For his performance, LeBlanc received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, three Golden Globe award nominations, and one Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. During this time he also appeared in the films "Lookin' Italian" (1994), "Ed" (1996), "Lost in Space" (1998), "Charlie's Angels" (2000), and its sequel, "" (2003).


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: Following the cancellation of "Joey", Matt LeBlanc announced that he would be taking a one-year hiatus from acting on television, which eventually turned into five years.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: From 2011, LeBlanc appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in "Episodes", a television series about an American remake of a fictional British television series. The series is written by "Friends" co-creator David Crane and his partner Jeffrey Klarik. At the 69th Golden Globe Awards in 2012, LeBlanc won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a television series, musical, or comedy, and was nominated for an additional four Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: In February 2012, LeBlanc appeared in the second episode of the eighteenth series of "Top Gear", where he set the fastest lap time in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment in a Kia Cee'd. Lapping at 1:42.1, he beat the show's previous record-holder, Rowan Atkinson, by 0.1 seconds. He also appeared in the fourth episode of the nineteenth season to race the New Kia Cee'd, and beat his previous time.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: In February 2016, the BBC announced LeBlanc had signed on to become one of the new "Top Gear" hosts, signing a two-year deal later that year. He announced his decision to retire from the series in May 2018, having co-hosted it for three years. Despite the show being "great fun", he stated the "time commitment and extensive travel takes me away from my family and friends more than I'm comfortable with."


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc played the lead role in the CBS sitcom "Man with a Plan", which began airing in 2016 until it was cancelled in 2020.


title: Matt LeBlanc

text: LeBlanc has an extensive interest in cars, and worked as a carpenter before acting. He married Melissa McKnight, a British-born American model and a divorced single mother of two children, in May 2003. In 1997, they were introduced to each other by McKnight's friend, Kelly Phillips (wife of actor Lou Diamond Phillips). LeBlanc proposed to her a year later. Their daughter, born in 2004, began suffering seizures at eight months old. By the time she was two years old, the condition, thought to be a form of dysplasia, had mostly subsided. LeBlanc and McKnight divorced in October 2006, citing irreconcilable differences.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang, and, in 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China with eight smaller parties within its United Front and has sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Each successive leader of the CCP has added their own theories to the party's constitution, which outlines the ideological beliefs of the party, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2022, the CCP has more than 96 million members, making it the second largest political party by party membership in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Chinese public generally refers to the CCP as simply "the Party".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In 1921, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao led the founding of the CCP with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Far Eastern Secretariat of the Communist International. For the first six years of its history, the CCP aligned itself with the Kuomintang (KMT) as the organized left wing of the larger nationalist movement. However, when the right wing of the KMT, led by Chiang Kai-shek, turned on the CCP and massacred tens of thousands of the party's members, the two parties split and began a prolonged civil war. During the next ten years of guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong rose to become the most influential figure in the CCP, and the party established a strong base among the rural peasantry with its land reform policies. Support for the CCP continued to grow throughout the Second Sino-Japanese War, and after the Japanese surrender in 1945, the CCP emerged triumphant in the communist revolution against the KMT government. After the retreat of KMT to Taiwan the CCP established the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Mao Zedong continued to be the most influential member of the CCP until his death in 1976, although he periodically withdrew from public leadership as his health declined. Under Mao, the party completed its land reform program, launched a series of five-year plans, and eventually split with the Soviet Union. Although Mao attempted to purge the party of capitalist and reactionary elements during the Cultural Revolution, after his death, these policies were only briefly continued by the Gang of Four before a less radical faction seized control. During the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping directed the CCP away from Maoist orthodoxy and towards a policy of economic liberalization. The official explanation for these reforms was that China is still in the primary stage of socialism, a developmental stage similar to the capitalist mode of production. Since the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CCP has emphasized its relations with the ruling parties of the remaining socialist states and continues to participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties each year. The CCP has also established relations with several non-communist parties, including dominant nationalist parties of many developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and social democratic parties of Europe.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Chinese Communist Party is organized on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle that entails open discussion of policy on the condition of unity among party members in upholding the agreed-upon decision. The highest body of the CCP is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. When the National Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body, but since that body usually only meets once a year, most duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo and its Standing Committee. Members of the latter are seen as the top leadership of the party and the state. Today the party's leader holds the offices of general secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) (responsible for military affairs), and State President (a largely ceremonial position). Because of these posts, the party leader is seen as the country's paramount leader. The current leader is Xi Jinping, who was elected at the 18th National Congress held on 8–15 November 2012 and retained his position at the 19th National Congress held on 18–24 October 2017 and the 20th National Congress held on 16–22 October 2022.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP traces its origins to the May Fourth Movement of 1919, during which radical Western ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the CCP. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were among the first to publicly support Leninism and world revolution. Both regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere. Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, "the rudiments [of our party]". Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, but by 1920 many grew sceptical about their ability to bring about reforms.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP was founded on 1 July 1921 with the help of the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Far Eastern Secretariat of the Communist International, according to the party's official account of its history. However, party documents suggest that the party's actual founding date was 23 July 1921, the first day of the 1st National Congress of the CCP. The founding National Congress of the CCP was held 23–31 July 1921. With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, among them Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong, the CCP organization and authorities grew tremendously. While it was originally held in a house in the Shanghai French Concession, French police interrupted the meeting on 30 July and the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province. A dozen delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend, the latter sending a personal representative in his stead. The resolutions of the congress called for the establishment of a communist party as a branch of the Communist International (Comintern) and elected Chen as its leader. Chen then served as the first general secretary of the Communist Party and was referred to as "China's Lenin".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Soviets hoped to foster pro-Soviet forces in the Far East to fight against anti-communist countries, particularly Japan. They attempted to contact the warlord Wu Peifu, but failed. The Soviets then contacted the Kuomintang (KMT), which was leading the Guangzhou government parallel to the Beiyang government. On 6 October 1923, the Comintern sent Mikhail Borodin to Guangzhou, and the Soviets established friendly relations with the KMT. The Central Committee of the CCP, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and the Comintern all hoped that the CCP would eventually control the KMT and called their opponents "rightists". Sun eased the conflict between the communists and their opponents. CCP membership grew tremendously after the 4th congress in 1925, from 900 to 2,428. The CCP still treats Sun Yat-sen as one of the founders of their movement and claim descent from him as he is viewed as a proto-communist and the economic element of Sun's ideology was socialism. Sun stated, "Our Principle of Livelihood is a form of communism".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT and struggled for power with the party's right-wing factions. When KMT leader Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists. Chiang, Sun's former assistant, was not actively anti-communist at that time, even though he hated the theory of class struggle and the CCP's seizure of power. The communists proposed removing Chiang's power. When Chiang gradually gained the support of Western countries, the conflict between him and the communists became more and more intense. Chiang asked the Kuomintang to join the Comintern to rule out the secret expansion of communists within the KMT, while Chen Duxiu hoped that the communists would completely withdraw from the KMT.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In April 1927, both Chiang and the CCP were preparing for conflict. Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiang's arrival, he turned on them, massacring 5,000 with the aid of the Green Gang. Chiang's army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by CCP General Ye Ting and his troops. Chiang's allies also attacked communists; for example, in Beijing, Li Dazhao and 19 other leading communists were executed by Zhang Zuolin. Angered by these events, the peasant movement supported by the CCP became more violent. Ye Dehui, a famous scholar, was killed by communists in Changsha, and in revenge, KMT general He Jian and his troops gunned down hundreds of peasant militiamen. That May, tens of thousands of communists and their sympathizers were killed by KMT troops, with the CCP losing approximately of its members.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, but on 15 July 1927 the Wuhan government expelled all communists from the KMT. The CCP reacted by founding the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as the "Red Army", to battle the KMT. A battalion led by General Zhu De was ordered to take the city of Nanchang on 1 August 1927 in what became known as the Nanchang uprising. Initially successful, Zhu and his troops were forced to retreat after five days, marching south to Shantou, and from there being driven into the wilderness of Fujian. Mao Zedong was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army, and led four regiments against Changsha in the Autumn Harvest Uprising, hoping to spark peasant uprisings across Hunan. His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat, with 1,000 survivors marching east to the Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The near-destruction of the CCP's urban organizational apparatus led to institutional changes within the party. The party adopted democratic centralism, a way to organize revolutionary parties, and established a politburo to function as the standing committee of the central committee. The result was increased centralization of power within the party. At every level of the party this was duplicated, with standing committees now in effective control. After being expelled from the party, Chen Duxiu went on to lead China's Trotskyist movement. Li Lisan was able to assume "de facto" control of the party organization by 1929–1930. Li's leadership was a failure, leaving the CCP on the brink of destruction. The Comintern became involved, and by late 1930, his powers had been taken away. By 1935 Mao had become a member of Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP and the party's informal military leader, with Zhou Enlai and Zhang Wentian, the formal head of the party, serving as his informal deputies. The conflict with the KMT led to the reorganization of the Red Army, with power now centralized in the leadership through the creation of CCP political departments charged with supervising the army.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Second Sino-Japanese War paused the conflict between the CCP and the KMT. The Second United Front was established between the CCP and the KMT to repel the Japanese invaders. While the front formally existed until 1945, all collaboration between the two parties had ended by 1940. Despite their formal alliance, the CCP used the opportunity to expand and carve out independent bases of operations to prepare for the coming war with the KMT. In 1939 the KMT began to restrict CCP expansion within China. This led to frequent clashes between CCP and KMT forces but which subsided rapidly on the realisation on both sides that civil war amidst a foreign invasion was not an option. Yet, by 1943, the CCP was again actively expanding its territory at the expense of the KMT.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Mao Zedong became the Chairman of the CCP in 1945. From 1945 until 1949, the war had been reduced to two parties: the CCP and the KMT. This period lasted through four stages; the first was from August 1945 (when the Japanese surrendered) to June 1946 (when the peace talks between the CCP and the KMT ended). By 1945, the KMT had three-times more soldiers under its command than the CCP and initially appeared to be prevailing. With the cooperation of the U.S. and Japan, the KMT was able to retake major parts of the country. However, KMT rule over the reconquered territories would prove unpopular because of endemic party corruption. Notwithstanding its huge numerical superiority, the KMT failed to reconquer the rural territories which made up the CCP's stronghold. Around the same time, the CCP launched an invasion of Manchuria, where they were assisted by the Soviet Union. The second stage, lasting from July 1946 to June 1947, saw the KMT extend its control over major cities such as Yan'an, the CCP headquarters for much of the war. The KMT's successes were hollow; the CCP had tactically withdrawn from the cities, and instead attacked KMT authorities by instigating protests amongst students and intellectuals in the cities. The KMT responded to these demonstrations with heavy-handed repression. In the meantime, the KMT was struggling with factional infighting and Chiang Kai-shek's autocratic control over the party, which weakened the KMT's ability to respond to attacks. The third stage, lasting from July 1947 to August 1948, saw a limited counteroffensive by the CCP. The objective was clearing "Central China, strengthening North China, and recovering Northeast China." This disastrous counteroffensive, coupled with military desertions from the KMT, resulted in the KMT losing 2 million of its 3 million troops by the spring of 1948 and a significant decline in support for KMT rule. The CCP was consequently able to cut off KMT garrisons in Manchuria and retake several lost territories. The last stage, lasting from September 1948 to December 1949, saw the communists go on the offensive and the collapse of KMT rule in mainland China as a whole. Mao's proclamation of the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949 marked the end of the second phase of the Chinese Civil War (or the Chinese Communist Revolution, as it is called by the CCP).


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) before a massive crowd at Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949. The CCP headed the Central People's Government. From this time through the 1980s, top leaders of the CCP (such as Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping) were largely the same military leaders prior to the PRC's founding. As a result, informal personal ties between political and military leaders dominated civil-military relations.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Stalin proposed a one-party constitution when Liu Shaoqi visited the Soviet Union in 1952. The Constitution of the PRC in 1954 subsequently abolished the previous coalition government and established the CCP's one-party system. Mao said that China should implement a multi-party system under the CCP's leadership at the CCP's 8th Congress in 1956. He had not previously made such a proposal, but the CCP nonetheless retained most of its political power even after the announcement. In 1957, the CCP launched the Anti-Rightist Campaign against political dissents and prominent figures from other minor parties, which resulted in the political persecution of at least 550,000 people. The campaign significantly damaged the limited pluralistic nature in the socialist republic and solidified the country's status as a "de facto" one-party state.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Anti-Rightist Campaign led to the catastrophic results of the Second Five Year Plan from 1958 to 1962, known as the Great Leap Forward. In an effort to transform the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized one, the CCP collectivized farmland, formed people's communes, and diverted labour to factories. General mismanagement and exaggerations of harvests by CCP officials led to the Great Chinese Famine, which resulted in an estimated 15 to 45 million deaths, making it the largest famine in recorded history.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, the CCP experienced a significant ideological separation from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union which was going through a period of "de-Stalinization" under Nikita Khrushchev. By that time, Mao had begun saying that the "continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" stipulated that class enemies continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to be complete, leading to the Cultural Revolution in which millions were persecuted and killed. During the Cultural Revolution, party leaders such as Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, and He Long were purged or exiled, and the Gang of Four, led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing, emerged to fill in the power vacuum left behind.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Following Mao's death in 1976, a power struggle between CCP chairman Hua Guofeng and vice-chairman Deng Xiaoping erupted. Deng won the struggle, and became China's paramount leader in 1978. Deng, alongside Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, spearheaded the "reform and opening-up" policies, and introduced the ideological concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics, opening China to the world's markets. In reversing some of Mao's "leftist" policies, Deng argued that a socialist state could use the market economy without itself being capitalist. While asserting the political power of the CCP, the change in policy generated significant economic growth. This was justified on the basis that "Practice is the Sole Criterion for the Truth", a principle reinforced through a 1978 article that aimed to combat dogmatism and criticized the "Two Whatevers" policy. The new ideology, however, was contested on both sides of the spectrum, by Maoists to the left of the CCP's leadership, as well as by those supporting political liberalization. With other social factors, the conflicts culminated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The protests having been crushed and the reformist party general secretary Zhao Ziyang under house arrest, Deng's economic policies resumed and by the early 1990s the concept of a socialist market economy had been introduced. In 1997, Deng's beliefs (officially called "Deng Xiaoping Theory") were embedded into the CCP's constitution.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin succeeded Deng as paramount leader in the 1990s and continued most of his policies. In the 1990s, the CCP transformed from a veteran revolutionary leadership that was both leading militarily and politically, to a political elite increasingly renewed according to institutionalized norms in the civil bureaucracy. Leadership was largely selected based on rules and norms on promotion and retirement, educational background, and managerial and technical expertise. There is a largely separate group of professionalized military officers, serving under top CCP leadership largely through formal relationships within institutional channels.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: As part of Jiang Zemin's nominal legacy, the CCP ratified the "Three Represents" for the 2003 revision of the party's constitution, as a "guiding ideology" to encourage the party to represent "advanced productive forces, the progressive course of China's culture, and the fundamental interests of the people." The theory legitimized the entry of private business owners and bourgeois elements into the party. Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin's successor as general secretary, took office in 2002. Unlike Mao, Deng and Jiang Zemin, Hu laid emphasis on collective leadership and opposed one-man dominance of the political system. The insistence on focusing on economic growth led to a wide range of serious social problems. To address these, Hu introduced two main ideological concepts: the "Scientific Outlook on Development" and "Harmonious Socialist Society". Hu resigned from his post as CCP general secretary and Chairman of the CMC at the 18th National Congress held in 2012, and was succeeded in both posts by Xi Jinping.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Since taking power, Xi has initiated a wide-reaching anti-corruption campaign, while centralizing powers in the office of CCP general secretary at the expense of the collective leadership of prior decades. Commentators have described the campaign as a defining part of Xi's leadership as well as "the principal reason why he has been able to consolidate his power so quickly and effectively." Foreign commentators have likened him to Mao. Xi's leadership has also overseen an increase in the Party's role in China. Xi has added his ideology, named after himself, into the CCP constitution in 2017. As has been speculated, Xi Jinping may not retire from his top posts after serving for 10 years in 2022.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Since 2014, the CCP has led efforts in Xinjiang that involve the detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in internment camps, as well as other repressive measures. This has been described as a genocide by academics and some governments. On the other hand, a greater number of countries signed a letter penned to the Human Rights Council supporting the policies as an effort to combat terrorism in the region.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the CCP's founding, one of the Two Centenaries, took place on 1 July 2021.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: On July 6, 2021, Xi chaired the Communist Party of China and World Political Parties Summit, which involved representatives from 500 political parties across 160 countries. Xi urged the participants to oppose "technology blockades," and "developmental decoupling" in order to work towards "building a community with a shared future for mankind."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The core ideology of the party has evolved with each distinct 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. 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".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Marxism–Leninism was the first official ideology of the CCP. According to the CCP, "Marxism–Leninism reveals the universal laws governing the development of history of human society." To the CCP, Marxism–Leninism provides a "vision of the contradictions in capitalist society and of the inevitability of a future socialist and communist societies". According to the "People's Daily", Mao Zedong Thought "is Marxism–Leninism applied and developed in China". Mao Zedong Thought was conceived not only by Mao Zedong, but by leading party officials.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Deng Xiaoping Theory was added to the party constitution at the 14th National Congress in 1992. The concepts of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "the primary stage of socialism" were credited to the theory. Deng Xiaoping Theory can be defined as a belief that state socialism and state planning is not by definition communist, and that market mechanisms are class neutral. 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". 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.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The "Three Represents", Jiang Zemin's contribution to the party's ideology, was adopted by the party at the 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." 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. 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 economic laws of history. 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."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In 2003 the 3rd Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee conceived and formulated the ideology of the Scientific Outlook on Development (SOD). It is considered to be Hu Jintao's contribution to the official ideological discourse. The SOD incorporates scientific socialism, sustainable development, social welfare, a 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."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: 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 in 2017. Xi himself has described the thought as part of the broad framework created around socialism with Chinese characteristics. In official party documentation and pronouncements by Xi's colleagues, the Thought is said to be a continuation of previous party ideologies as part of a series of guiding ideologies that embody "Marxism adapted to Chinese conditions" and contemporary considerations.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Deng did not believe that the fundamental difference between the capitalist mode of production and the socialist mode of production was central planning versus free markets. He said, "A planned economy is not the definition of socialism, because there is planning under capitalism; the market economy happens under socialism, too. Planning and market forces are both ways of controlling economic activity". Jiang Zemin supported Deng's thinking, and stated in a party gathering that it did not matter if a certain mechanism was capitalist or socialist, because the only thing that mattered was whether it worked. It was at this gathering that Jiang Zemin introduced the term socialist market economy, which replaced Chen Yun's "planned socialist market economy". In his report to the 14th National Congress Jiang Zemin told the delegates that the socialist state would "let market forces play a basic role in resource allocation." At the 15th National Congress, the party line was changed to "make market forces further play their role in resource allocation"; this line continued until the of the 18th Central Committee, when it was amended to "let market forces play a "decisive" role in resource allocation." Despite this, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee upheld the creed "Maintain the dominance of the public sector and strengthen the economic vitality of the state-owned economy."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP views the world as organized into two opposing camps; socialist and capitalist. They insist that socialism, on the basis of historical materialism, will eventually triumph over capitalism. In recent years, when the party has been asked to explain the capitalist globalization occurring, the party has returned to the writings of Karl Marx. Despite admitting that globalization developed through the capitalist system, the party's leaders and theorists argue that globalization is not intrinsically capitalist. The reason being that if globalization was purely capitalist, it would exclude an alternative socialist form of modernity. Globalization, as with the market economy, therefore does not have one specific class character (neither socialist nor capitalist) according to the party. The insistence that globalization is not fixed in nature comes from Deng's insistence that China can pursue socialist modernization by incorporating elements of capitalism. Because of this there is considerable optimism within the CCP that despite the current capitalist dominance of globalization, globalization can be turned into a vehicle supporting socialism.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: While foreign analysts generally agree that the CCP has rejected orthodox Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought (or at least basic thoughts within orthodox thinking), the CCP itself disagrees. Critics of the CCP argue that Jiang Zemin ended the party's formal commitment to Marxism–Leninism with the introduction of the ideological theory, the Three Represents. However, party theorist Leng Rong disagrees, claiming that "President Jiang rid the Party of the ideological obstacles to different kinds of ownership... He did not give up Marxism or socialism. He strengthened the Party by providing a modern understanding of Marxism and socialism—which is why we talk about a 'socialist market economy' with Chinese characteristics." The attainment of true "communism" is still described as the CCP's and China's "ultimate goal". While the CCP claims that China is in the primary stage of socialism, party theorists argue that the current development stage "looks a lot like capitalism". Alternatively, certain party theorists argue that "capitalism is the early or first stage of communism." Some have dismissed the concept of a primary stage of socialism as intellectual cynicism. For example, Robert Lawrence Kuhn, a former foreign adviser to the Chinese government, stated: "When I first heard this rationale, I thought it more comic than clever—a wry caricature of hack propagandists leaked by intellectual cynics. But the 100-year horizon comes from serious political theorists."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: American political scientist and sinologist David Shambaugh argues that before the "Practice Is the Sole Criterion for the Truth" campaign, the relationship between ideology and decision making was a deductive one, meaning that policy-making was derived from ideological knowledge. However, under Deng's leadership this relationship was turned upside down, with decision making justifying ideology. Chinese policy-makers have described the Soviet Union's state ideology as "rigid, unimaginative, ossified, and disconnected from reality", believing that this was one of the reasons for the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Therefore, Shambaugh argues, Chinese policy-makers believe that their party ideology must be dynamic to safeguard the party's rule.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: British sinologist Kerry Brown argues that the CCP does not have an ideology, and that the party organization is pragmatic and interested only in what works. The party itself argues against this assertion. Hu Jintao stated in 2012 that the Western world is "threatening to divide us" and that "the international culture of the West is strong while we are weak ... Ideological and cultural fields are our main targets". As such, the CCP puts a great deal of effort into the party schools and into crafting its ideological message.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Collective leadership, the idea that decisions will be taken through consensus, is the ideal in the CCP. The concept has its origins back to Lenin and the Russian Bolshevik Party. At the level of the central party leadership this means that, for instance, all members of the Politburo Standing Committee are of equal standing (each member having only one vote). A member of the Politburo Standing Committee often represents a sector; during Mao's reign, he controlled the People's Liberation Army, Kang Sheng, the security apparatus, and Zhou Enlai, the State Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This counts as informal power. Despite this, in a paradoxical relation, members of a body are ranked hierarchically (despite the fact that members are in theory equal to one another). Informally, the collective leadership is headed by a "leadership core"; that is, the paramount leader, the person who holds the offices of CCP general secretary, CMC chairman and PRC president. Before Jiang Zemin's tenure as paramount leader, the party core and collective leadership were indistinguishable. In practice, the core was not responsible to the collective leadership. However, by the time of Jiang, the party had begun propagating a responsibility system, referring to it in official pronouncements as the "core of the collective leadership".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP's organizational principle is democratic centralism, a principle that entails open discussion of policy on the condition of unity among party members in upholding the agreed-upon decision. It is based on two principles: democracy (synonymous in official discourse with "socialist democracy" and "inner-party democracy") and centralism. This has been the guiding organizational principle of the party since the 5th National Congress, held in 1927. In the words of the party constitution, "The Party is an integral body organized under its program and constitution and on the basis of democratic centralism". Mao once quipped that democratic centralism was "at once democratic and centralized, with the two seeming opposites of democracy and centralization united in a definite form." Mao claimed that the superiority of democratic centralism lay in its internal contradictions, between democracy and centralism, and freedom and discipline. Currently, the CCP is claiming that "democracy is the lifeline of the Party, the lifeline of socialism". But for democracy to be implemented, and functioning properly, there needs to be centralization. The goal of democratic centralism was not to obliterate capitalism or its policies but instead it is the movement towards regulating capitalism while involving socialism and democracy. Democracy in any form, the CCP claims, needs centralism, since without centralism there will be no order.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: "Shuanggui" is an intra-party disciplinary process conducted by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). This formally independent internal control institution conducts "shuanggui" on members accused of "disciplinary violations", a charge which generally refers to political corruption. The process, which literally translates to "double regulation", aims to extract confessions from members accused of violating party rules. According to the Dui Hua Foundation, tactics such as cigarette burns, beatings and simulated drowning are among those used to extract confessions. Other reported techniques include the use of induced hallucinations, with one subject of this method reporting that "In the end I was so exhausted, I agreed to all the accusations against me even though they were false."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP employs a political strategy that it terms "united front work" that involves groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the CCP and used to advance its interests. United Front work is managed primarily but not exclusively by the United Front Work Department (UFWD). The United Front has historically been a popular front that has included eight legally-permitted political parties alongside other people's organizations which have nominal representation in the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). However, the CPPCC is a body without real power. While consultation does take place, it is supervised and directed by the CCP. Under Xi Jinping, the United Front and its targets of influence have expanded in size and scope.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The National Congress is the party's highest body, and, since the 9th National Congress in 1969, has been convened every five years (prior to the 9th Congress they were convened on an irregular basis). According to the party's constitution, a congress may not be postponed except "under extraordinary circumstances." The party constitution gives the National Congress six responsibilities:


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In practice, the delegates rarely discuss issues at length at the National Congresses. Most substantive discussion takes place before the congress, in the preparation period, among a group of top party leaders. In between National Congresses, the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution. The CCDI is responsible for supervising party's internal anti-corruption and ethics system. In between congresses the CCDI is under the authority of the Central Committee.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Central Committee, as the party's highest decision-making institution between national congresses, elects several bodies to carry out its work. The first plenary session of a newly elected central committee elects the general secretary of the Central Committee, the party's leader; the Central Military Commission (CMC); the Politburo; the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC); and since 2013, the Central National Security Commission (CNSC). The first plenum also endorses the composition of the Secretariat and the leadership of the CCDI. According to the party constitution, the general secretary must be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and is responsible for convening meetings of the PSC and the Politburo, while also presiding over the work of the Secretariat. The Politburo "exercises the functions and powers of the Central Committee when a plenum is not in session". The PSC is the party's highest decision-making institution when the Politburo, the Central Committee and the National Congress are not in session. It convenes at least once a week. It was established at the 8th National Congress, in 1958, to take over the policy-making role formerly assumed by the Secretariat. The Secretariat is the top implementation body of the Central Committee, and can make decisions within the policy framework established by the Politburo; it is also responsible for supervising the work of organizations that report directly into the Central Committee, for example departments, commissions, publications, and so on. The CMC is the highest decision-making institution on military affairs within the party, and controls the operations of the People's Liberation Army. The general secretary has, since Jiang Zemin, also served as Chairman of the CMC. Unlike the collective leadership ideal of other party organs, the CMC chairman acts as commander-in-chief with full authority to appoint or dismiss top military officers at will. The CNSC "co-ordinates security strategies across various departments, including intelligence, the military, foreign affairs and the police in order to cope with growing challenges to stability at home and abroad." The general secretary serves as the Chairman of the CNSC.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: A first plenum of the Central Committee also elects heads of departments, bureaus, central leading groups and other institutions to pursue its work during a term (a "term" being the period elapsing between national congresses, usually five years). The General Office is the party's "nerve centre", in charge of day-to-day administrative work, including communications, protocol, and setting agendas for meetings. The CCP currently has four main central departments: the Organization Department, responsible for overseeing provincial appointments and vetting cadres for future appointments, the Publicity Department (formerly "Propaganda Department"), which oversees the media and formulates the party line to the media, the International Department, functioning as the party's "foreign affairs ministry" with other parties, and the United Front Work Department, which oversees work with the country's non-communist parties, mass organizations, and influence groups outside of the country. The CC also has direct control over the Central Policy Research Office, which is responsible for researching issues of significant interest to the party leadership, the Central Party School, which provides political training and ideological indoctrination in communist thought for high-ranking and rising cadres, the Party History Research Centre, which sets priorities for scholarly research in state-run universities and the Central Party School, and the Compilation and Translation Bureau, which studies and translates the classical works of Marxism. The party's newspaper, the "People's Daily", is under the direct control of the Central Committee and is published with the objectives "to tell good stories about China and the (Party)" and to promote its party leader. The theoretical magazines "Seeking Truth from Facts" and "Study Times" are published by the Central Party School. The China Media Group, which oversees China Central Television (CCTV), China National Radio (CNR) and China Radio International (CRI), is under the direct control of the Publicity Department. The various offices of the "Central Leading Groups", such as the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, the Taiwan Affairs Office, and the Central Finance Office, also report to the central committee during a plenary session. Additionally, CCP has sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA) through its Central Military Commission.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: After seizing political power, the CCP extended the dual party-state command system to all government institutions, social organizations, and economic entities. The State Council and the Supreme Court each has a party core group (党组), established since November 1949. Party committees permeate in every state administrative organ as well as the People's Consultation Conferences and mass organizations at all levels. Party committees exist inside of companies, both private and state-owned. Modelled after the Soviet Nomenklatura system, the party committee's organization department at each level has the power to recruit, train, monitor, appoint, and relocate these officials.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Party committees exist at the level of provinces, cities, counties, and neighbourhoods. These committees play a key role in directing local policy by selecting local leaders and assigning critical tasks. The Party secretary at each level is more senior than that of the leader of the government, with the CCP standing committee being the main source of power. Party committee members in each level are selected by the leadership in the level above, with provincial leaders selected by the central Organizational Department, and not removable by the local party secretary.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In theory, however, party committees are elected by party congresses at their own level. Local party congresses are supposed to be held every fifth year, but under extraordinary circumstances they may be held earlier or postponed. However that decision must be approved by the next higher level of the local party committee. The number of delegates and the procedures for their election are decided by the local party committee, but must also have the approval of the next higher party committee.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: A local party congress has many of the same duties as the National Congress, and it is responsible for examining the report of the local Party Committee at the corresponding level; examining the report of the local Commission for Discipline Inspection at the corresponding level; discussing and adopting resolutions on major issues in the given area; and electing the local Party Committee and the local Commission for Discipline Inspection at the corresponding level. Party committees of "a province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the central government, city divided into districts, or autonomous prefecture [are] elected for a term of five years", and include full and alternate members. The party committees "of a county (banner), autonomous county, city not divided into districts, or municipal district [are] elected for a term of five years", but full and alternate members "must have a Party standing of three years or more." If a local Party Congress is held before or after the given date, the term of the members of the Party Committee shall be correspondingly shortened or lengthened.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: Vacancies in a Party Committee shall be filled by an alternate members according to the order of precedence, which is decided by the number of votes an alternate member got during his or hers election. A Party Committee must convene for at least two plenary meetings a year. During its tenure, a Party Committee shall "carry out the directives of the next higher Party organizations and the resolutions of the Party congresses at the corresponding levels." The local Standing Committee (analogous to the Central Politburo) is elected at the first plenum of the corresponding Party Committee after the local party congress. A Standing Committee is responsible to the Party Committee at the corresponding level and the Party Committee at the next higher level. A Standing Committee exercises the duties and responsibilities of the corresponding Party Committee when it is not in session.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The funding of all CCP organizations mainly comes from state fiscal revenue. Data for the proportion of total CCP organizations’ expenditures in total China fiscal revenue is unavailable. However, occasionally small local governments in China release such data. For example, on 10 October 2016, the local government of Mengmao Township, Ruili City, Yunnan Province released a concise fiscal revenue and expenditure report for the year 2014. According to this report, the fiscal Revenue amounted to RMB 29,498,933.58, and CCP organization' expenditures amounted to RMB 1,660,115.50, that is, 5.63% of fiscal revenue is used by the CCP for its own operation. This value is similar to the social security and employment expenditure of the whole town—RMB 1,683,064.90.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The CCP reached 96.71 million members at the end of 2021. It is the second largest political party in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: To join the CCP, an applicant must go through an approval process. In 2014, only 2 million applications were accepted out of some 22 million applicants. Admitted members then spend a year as a probationary member.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: In contrast to the past, when emphasis was placed on the applicants' ideological criteria, the current CCP stresses technical and educational qualifications. To become a probationary member, the applicant must take an admission oath before the party flag. The relevant CCP organization is responsible for observing and educating probationary members. Probationary members have duties similar to those of full members, with the exception that they may not vote in party elections nor stand for election. Many join the CCP through the Communist Youth League. Under Jiang Zemin, private entrepreneurs were allowed to become party members. According to the CCP constitution, a member, in short, must follow orders, be disciplined, uphold unity, serve the Party and the people, and promote the socialist way of life. Members enjoy the privilege of attending Party meetings, reading relevant Party documents, receiving Party education, participating in Party discussions through the Party's newspapers and journals, making suggestions and proposal, making "well-grounded criticism of any Party organization or member at Party meetings" (even of the central party leadership), voting and standing for election, and of opposing and criticizing Party resolutions ("provided that they resolutely carry out the resolution or policy while it is in force"); and they have the ability "to put forward any request, appeal, or complaint to higher Party organizations, even up to the Central Committee, and ask the organizations concerned for a responsible reply." No party organization, including the CCP central leadership, can deprive a member of these rights.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: As of 30 June 2016, individuals who identify as farmers, herdsmen and fishermen make up 26 million members; members identifying as workers totalled 7.2 million. Another group, the "Managing, professional and technical staff in enterprises and public institutions", made up 12.5 million, 9 million identified as working in administrative staff and 7.4 million described themselves as party cadres.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: 28.43 million women are CCP members (less than a third of the party). Women in China have low participation rates as political leaders. Women's disadvantage is most evident in their severe under representation in the more powerful political positions. At the top level of decision making, no woman has ever been among the nine members of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party's Politburo. Just 3 of 27 government ministers are women, and importantly, since 1997, China has fallen to 53rd place from 16th in the world in terms of female representation at its parliament, the National People's Congress, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Party leaders such as Zhao Ziyang have vigorously opposed the participation of women in the political process. Within the party women face a glass ceiling.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The Communist Youth League (CYL) is the CCP's youth wing, and the largest mass organization for youth in China. According to the CCP's constitution the CYL is a "mass organization of advanced young people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China; it functions as a party school where a large number of young people learn about socialism with Chinese characteristics and about communism through practice; it is the Party's assistant and reserve force." To join, an applicant has to be between the ages of 14 and 28. It controls and supervises Young Pioneers, a youth organization for children below the age of 14. The organizational structure of CYL is an exact copy of the CCP's; the highest body is the National Congress, followed by the , Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee. However, the Central Committee (and all central organs) of the CYL work under the guidance of the CCP central leadership. Therefore, in a peculiar situation, CYL bodies are both responsible to higher bodies within CYL and the CCP, a distinct organization. As of the 17th National Congress (held in 2013), CYL had 89 million members.


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: At the beginning of its history, the CCP did not have a single official standard for the flag, but instead allowed individual party committees to copy the flag of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Central Politburo decreed the establishment of a sole official flag on 28 April 1942: "The flag of the CPC has the length-to-width proportion of 3:2 with a hammer and sickle in the upper-left corner, and with no five-pointed star. The Political Bureau authorizes the General Office to custom-make a number of standard flags and distribute them to all major organs".


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: According to "People's Daily", "The standard party flag is 120 centimeters (cm) in length and 80 cm in width. In the center of the upper-left corner (a quarter of the length and width to the border) is a yellow hammer-and-sickle 30 cm in diameter. The flag sleeve (pole hem) is in white and 6.5 cm in width. The dimension of the pole hem is not included in the measure of the flag. The red color symbolizes revolution; the hammer-and-sickle are tools of workers and peasants, meaning that the Communist Party of China represents the interests of the masses and the people; the yellow color signifies brightness." In total the flag has five dimensions, the sizes are "no. 1: 388 cm in length and 192 cm in width; no. 2: 240 cm in length and 160 cm in width; no. 3: 192 cm in length and 128 cm in width; no. 4: 144 cm in length and 96 cm in width; no. 5: 96 cm in length and 64 cm in width."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: On 21 September 1966, the CCP General Office issued the "Regulations on the Production and Use of the CPC Flag and Emblem", which stated that the emblem and flag were the official symbols and signs of the party. Article 53 of the CCP constitution states that "the Party emblem and flag are the symbol and sign of the Communist Party of China."


title: Chinese Communist Party

text: The International Liaison Department of the CCP is responsible for dialogue with global political parties.