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Party membership grows to 71 million in China

BEIJING: The membership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has grown to 70.8 million by the end of 2005, according to the latest statistics of the party.

Of the these members, 23 per cent were below 35 years old, up 0.3 percentage points over the previous year; 19.2 per cent were female, up 0.6 percentage points; and 29 per cent had received college education, up 1.7 percentage points, according to the statistics of the Organisation Department of the CPC's Central Committee.

The CPC is to celebrate its 85th birthday on July 1, and the CPC membership has been growing steadily since the first National Congress of the party in 1921.

Varied groups

In 2005, the party admitted 2.47 million new members, up 2.4 per cent over the previous year. They included 734,000 students, 226,000 workers, 492,000 farmers, herdsmen and fishermen, 200,000 working in government and party departments, 570,000 executives and technicians, 217,000 military personnel and armed policemen, 36,000 self-employed persons and professionals with no fixed jobs.

``Percentages of young members, female members and members that have received college education are increasing,'' said an official with the Organisation Department.

``The make-up of party membership has been further improved,'' said the official.

The statistics also show that the number of CPC grass-roots organisations had grown to 3.52 million by the end of 2005, an increase of 1.2 per cent over the previous year. — Xinhua

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