family_name joseph zen
The Communist Party of China ( CPC ) is the founding and ruling political party of the People ' s Republic of China ( PRC ). The CPC is the sole governing party of China , although it coexists alongside eight other legal parties that comprise the United Front ; these parties , however , hold no real ___MASK13___ or independence from the CPC . It was founded in 1921 , chiefly by ___MASK55___ Duxiu and Li Dazhao . The party grew quickly , and by 1949 the CPC had driven the nationalist Kuomintang ( KMT ) government from mainland China after the Chinese Civil War , thus leading to the establishment of the People ' s Republic of China . The CPC is currently the world ' s second largest political party with a membership of 88 . 76 million as of 2016 ( while the Indian Bharatiya Janata Party appears to have remained the largest with a membership of 110 million as of the previous year , 2015 ). It also controls the world ' s largest armed force , the People ' s Liberation Army . The Chinese Civil War was a civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang ( KMT )- led government of the Republic of China , and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China ( CPC ). The war began in ___MASK42___ 1927 , with Generalissimo Chiang ___MASK29___ - shek ' s Northern Expedition , and essentially ended when major hostilities ceased in 1950 . It can generally be divided into two stages ; the first being from 1927 to 1937 , and the second being from 1946 to 1950 with the Second Sino - Japanese War separating them . The war was a major turning point in modern Chinese history , with the CPC gaining control of almost the entirety of Mainland China , establishing the People ' s Republic of China ( PRC ) to replace the KMT ' s Republic of China ( ROC ). It also caused a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait , with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of all of China . ___MASK94___ Dazhao ( October 29 , 1888  April 28 , 1927 ) was a Chinese intellectual who co - founded the Communist Party of China with ___MASK55___ Duxiu in 1921 . A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold ___MASK13___ in the government . The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes , with a view to promoting the collective ___MASK22___ or furthering their supporters ' interests . ___MASK55___ Duxiu ( October 8 , 1879  May 27 , 1942 ) was a Chinese revolutionary socialist , educator , philosopher , and author , who co - founded the Chinese Communist Party ( with Li Dazhao ) in 1921 , serving from 1921 to 1927 as its first General Secretary . ___MASK55___ was a leading figure in the anti - imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy . Politically , he advocated the Trotskyist theory of Marxism . Mainland China , also known as the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland , is the geopolitical area under the direct jurisdiction of the People ' s Republic of China ( PRC ). It generally excludes the Special Administrative Regions of ___MASK16___ Kong and Macau ; however , it usually includes Hainan . The term " mainland China ", which avoids calling the area simply " China " and thereby recognizing the founding of the PRC as " the " " China ", was coined by the Kuomintang ( KMT ) after receiving control of Taiwan from Japan after World War II . By 1949 , the KMT - led Republic of China ( ROC ) government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War in mainland China and fled to the island of Taiwan where the KMT pledged to " retake the Mainland ". The KMT considers both sides of the Taiwan Strait ( including Taiwan ), as ( one ) " China " and one country , whereas Taiwan ' s Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) considers only mainland China as " China " and Taiwan ( ROC ) as " Taiwan " and maintains that they are different countries . Joseph Zen Ze - kiun SDB ( born 12 January 1931 ) is a Chinese Cardinal of the Catholic Church , who served as the sixth Bishop of ___MASK16___ Kong . He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2006 , and is famous for his outspokenness on issues regarding human rights , political freedom , and religious liberty , often attracting criticism from the Communist Party of China . He retired from his bishopric on 15 ___MASK19___ 2009 .