What you need to know about China’s 20th Communist Party congress

The autumn event is seen as the most significant in decades and takes place against a backdrop of challenges at home and abroad

While Xi Jinping is expected to secure a groundbreaking third term, the five-yearly meeting will also herald a renewal in the country’s leadership line-up

Reading Time:3 minutes

The Communist Party’s upcoming congress could be its most important in 40 years. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 7:00pm, 11 Aug 2022

The South China Morning Post has launched a 20th party congress digital project to share our newsroom’s knowledge and insights of possibly the world’s most significant political event of the year.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, set to take place in the autumn, is also arguably the party’s most important in 40 years, with its general secretary President Xi Jinping expected to secure a third term.

Xi will be the first person to serve as party chief for more than two terms since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, bending the retirement norms accumulated in the following decades.

For 20 years, it has been an accepted convention that members of the Politburo Standing Committee retire at the five-yearly party congress after reaching the age of 68.

While Xi, 69, is expected to sidestep the unwritten rule, this year’s congress will see a renewal in the rest of China’s leadership line-up, and it’s not clear the same special allowances will be granted to others in the top echelon of the party.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x