Ninety years ago, a group of 13 idealistic and politically radical intellectuals came together to form the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai, representing about 50 members nationwide.
Today, as the party prepares to mark the anniversary on Friday, it has much to celebrate. With more than 80 million members, it's in firm control of the world's most populous country and has delivered double-digit economic growth over the past 30 years. This has turned the Chinese economy into the world's second-biggest and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
But it also has much to worry about, in terms of its dictatorship, legitimacy and its future, as it faces the unprecedented challenges of rampant official corruption and widening income gaps that have led to waves of popular social discontent.
Within the party, the competing ideologies are fighting an increasingly public battle: the leftists point to myriad social ills and argue that the party has deviated too far from its core principles and risks losing power. The liberals say the mounting social problems are proof that the party should pursue more political reform and boost accountability if it wants to bolster its control and stay in power.
There are clear signs that the party is leaning to the left in the run-up to the anniversary and to a key leadership reshuffle at the 18th party congress scheduled for autumn next year. For instance, a top mainland official vowed in March that China would not adopt Western-style democracy with a multi-party system, a point that is expected to be reinforced again by President Hu Jintao on Friday.
Adding to the pessimism is the ongoing high-profile crackdown on political dissent through the harassment and jailing of a number of social activists and lawyers.
Nevertheless, there is cause for hope that the party will move faster towards democracy and transparency, enabling mainlanders to enjoy more rights and freedom sooner rather than later, regardless of the leadership's desires.
