China is a country of many political parties. Apart from the CPC, which is in power, China has eight non-Communist parties. Since their founding the latter have established cooperative relations with the CPC to different extents. The non-Communist parties responded to the call put forward by the CPC to hold the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and participated in the First Plenary Session of the CPPCC in September 1949 with the CPC and other democratic personages, at which the Common Program was adopted as the provisional constitution, and the Central People’s Government was elected and founded, hence the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Since then, all the non-Communist parties have earnestly participated in the consultations and decisions concerning important issues in the state’s political life; and many representatives of the non-Communist parties have been elected deputies to the people’s congresses and members of the committees of the CPPCC at various levels. Many members of the non-Communist parties hold leading posts on the standing committees of the people’s congresses, the committees of the CPPCC, government organs, and economic, cultural, educational, scientific and technological departments at various levels. The non-Communist parties of China are neither parties out of office, nor opposition parties, but friendly parties that “coexist over a long period of time, engage in mutual supervision, show utter devotion to each other, and share honor and disgrace, weal and woe” with the CPC. They are parties participating in government and political affairs.
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