Chapter 1    General Provisions

Article 1       In order to standardize the work of developing Party members, ensure the quality of newly developed Party members, and maintain the advanced nature and purity of the Party, these detailed rules are formulated in accordance with the Chinese Communist Party Charter and relevant provisions within the Party.

Article 2       The Party’s primary-level organizations should treat as a regular, important part of work the absorption into the Party of advanced elements who have Marxist faith, communist consciousness, and the ideals of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and who consciously practice the core socialist values.

Article 3       Party member development work should implement the Party’s basic theory, basic line, basic program, basic experience, and basic requirements, be in accordance with the general requirements of controlling the total amount, optimizing the structure, improving the quality, and playing a role, adhere to the Party membership standards stipulated in the Party Charter, and always put political standards first; adhere to prudent and balanced development, and be undertaken with leadership and planning; adhere to the principle that entering the Party is voluntary and the principle of absorbing case by case, developing members one by one as they mature.

Prohibit rushed development and oppose “closed door-ism.”

Chapter 2    Determination, and Cultivation and Education, of Persons Actively Pursuing Party Entry

Article 4       The Party organization shall, through propaganda of the Party’s political propositions and in-depth and meticulous thought-and-political work, raise the awareness of masses outside the Party about the Party and continuously expand the ranks of persons actively pursuing Party entry.

Article 5       Chinese workers, peasants, service people, intellectuals, and advanced elements of other social strata who have reached the age of eighteen, who acknowledge the Party’s program and Charter, and who are willing to join a Party organization and work actively in it, implement the Party’s resolutions and pay Party dues on time can apply to join the Chinese Communist Party.

Article 6       Applicants to join the Party should present their Party membership application to a Party organization of the unit where they work or study. Those who have no work or study unit, or whose work or study unit has not yet established a Party organization, should present their Party membership application to the Party organization of their place of residence.

Mobile persons can also present a Party membership application to a Party organization where their unit is located or to a Party organization in the department in charge of managing the unit, and can also present their application to a mobile Party member Party organization.

Article 7       After a Party organization receives an application letter for Party membership, it should, within one month, deploy someone to talk with the Party applicant to understand the basic situation.

Article 8       The determination of persons actively pursuing Party entry (入党积极分子) from among Party applicants should adopt means such as Party member recommendation and mass organization recommendation of those who excel to select candidates, [shall] be studied and decided on by the branch committee (if there is no branch committee, the branch general meeting, the same applies below), and [shall] be reported to the Party committee at the level above for review.

Article 9       A Party organization shall designate one or two formal Party members as cultivation contacts for persons actively pursuing Party entry. The main tasks of cultivation contacts are:

(1)    Introducing basic Party knowledge to persons actively pursuing Party entry;

(2)    Understanding the political consciousness, moral character, actual performance, and family situation etc. of persons actively pursuing Party entry, conducting cultivation and education work, and guiding persons actively pursuing Party entry to correct their motives for joining the Party.

(3)    Reporting promptly to the Party branch on the situation regarding persons actively pursuing Party entry.

(4)    Offering an opinion to the Party branch on whether a person actively pursuing Party entry can be listed as a development target (发展对象).

Article 10     Party organizations should adopt means such as including persons actively pursuing Party entry in listening to Party classes and participating in relevant intra-party activities, and assigning for them a certain amount of social work and intensive training, and carry out for persons actively pursuing Party entry education on Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, education on the Party’s line, principles, policies, and the Party’s basic knowledge, education on the Party’s history and fine traditions, and work style, and education on the core socialist values, making them understand the Party’s nature, program, purpose, organizational principles, and discipline, and understand a Party member’s obligations and rights, and helping them to correct their motives for joining the Party, establishing a belief in spending one’s whole life striving for the cause of communism.

Article 11     Party branches shall conduct a test and assessment of persons actively pursuing Party entry once every six months. Primary-level Party committees shall conduct an analysis on the situation regarding persons actively pursuing Party entry once a year. Improvement measures shall be taken for problems that exist.

Article 12     If there is a change in the unit (place of residence) where a person actively pursuing Party entry works or studies, it should be reported promptly to the Party organization of the original unit (place of residence). The Party organization of the original unit (place of residence) should promptly transfer cultivation and education and other such relevant materials to the Party organization of the current unit (place of residence). The Party organization of the current unit (place of residence) should conduct a diligent review of the relevant materials and continue to carry out the cultivation and education. The duration of cultivation and education can be calculated continuously.

Chapter 3    Determination, and Test and Assessment, of Development Targets

Article 13     For persons actively pursuing Party entry who have undergone more than one year of cultivation and education and test and assessment, and who basically meet the conditions of Party membership, on the basis of listening to the opinions of the Party small group, cultivation contacts, Party members, and the masses, after the branch committee discusses and agrees and reports to the higher-level Party committee for filing, such persons can be listed as development targets.

Article 14     A development target shall have two full Party members as introducers into the Party (入党介绍人). [The role of] introducer into the Party is generally performed by cultivating contacts, [or] can also be designated by the Party organization.

Party members who have been placed under the disciplinary measure of remaining in the Party under probation and who have not recovered their Party member rights cannot act as introducer into the Party.

Article 15     The main tasks of an introducer into the Party are:

(1)    Explain the Party’s program and Charter to the development target and explain the conditions, obligations, and rights of Party members.

(2)    Diligently understand the development target’s motives for joining the Party, political consciousness, moral character, work experience, and actual performance, etc. and report to the Party organization truthfully.

(3)    Instruct the development target to fill out the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join and diligently record their own opinion.

(4)    Responsibly introduce the development target’s circumstances to the branch general meeting.

(5)    After the development target has been approved as a probationary Party member, continue to provide them with education and assistance.

Article 16     Party organizations must conduct political reviews of development targets.

The main contents of the political review are: attitude towards the Party’s theory, line, principles, and policies; political history and performance in major political struggles; observance of discipline and law and compliance with social ethics; the political situation of immediate family members and main social relationships of close connection to the person.

The basic methods of political review are: talking with the person in question, consulting relevant archive materials, seeking information from relevant units and persons, and making necessary correspondence-based investigations or external investigations. After speaking with the person in question and reviewing the relevant materials, if the situation is clear, no correspondence-based investigation or external investigation is required. When conducting a political review of development targets from among mobile persons, opinions should also be solicited from the primary-level Party organizations of the place of their household registration and their place of residence.

Political reviews must be conducted solemnly and diligently and by seeking truth from facts with attention paid to the person in question’s consistent performance. Reviews should form conclusive material.

Anyone who has not undergone the political review or failed to pass the political review cannot be developed to join the Party.

Article 17     The primary-level Party committee or the organization department of the county-level Party committee shall conduct short-term intensive training for development targets. The duration of training is generally not less than three days (or not less than 24 study hours). During training, study is mainly of documents such as the Party Charter and the Code of Political Conduct for the Communist Party of China under the New Circumstances. The Party Joining Textbook organized and compiled by the Central Committee Organization Department can be used as study guide material.

Those who have not undergone training, except in some special circumstances, cannot be developed to join the Party.

Chapter 4     Reception of Prospective Party Members

Article 18     The reception of probationary Party members shall be processed in strict accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Party Charter.

Article 19     The branch committee shall conduct a strict review of the development target and, after collective discussion deeming [them] eligible, report it to the primary-level Party committee with approval authority for pre-examination.

The primary-level Party committee conducts a review of the conditions, and cultivation and education of the development target and, as needed, listens to the opinions of relevant departments such as discipline enforcement and law enforcement. The result of the review will be notified to the Party branch in writing, and the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join will be issued to development targets who have passed the review.

If the development target will leave the work or study unit within the next three months, generally, the formalities for accepting probationary Party members will not be processed.

Article 20     Development targets who have passed pre-examination by the primary-level Party committee shall be submitted by the branch committee to the branch general meeting for discussion.

To hold a branch general meeting to discuss the receipt of probationary Party members, the number of people who have voting rights must exceed half of the number of people able to vote who should attend the meeting.

Article 21     The main procedures for discussing the receipt of probationary Party members at the branch meeting are:

(1)    The development target reports their understanding of the Party, motivation for joining the Party, personal resumé, situation regarding their family and main social relations, and issues that need to be explained to the Party organization.

(2)    The introducer into the Party introduces the development target’s relevant circumstances, and declares their opinion on whether the target can join the Party.

(3)    The branch committee reports on the review of the development target.

(4)    Participating Party members shall fully discuss whether the development target can join the Party and shall vote by secret ballot. Only if the number of people in favor exceeds half of the full Party members who should be present and have the right to vote, can the decision to receive the probationary Party member be passed. For those full Party members with voting rights who for some reason are unable to attend the meeting, if they formally submit written opinions to the Party branch before the branch general meeting, they shall be counted in the votes.

When the branch general meeting discusses two or more development targets to join the Party, they must discuss and vote on each respectively.

Article 22     The Party branch shall promptly write the branch meeting resolution into the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join and submit it to the higher-level Party committee for approval together with the person in question’s application for Party membership, political review materials, and cultivation and education and test and assessment materials.

The resolution of the branch general meeting mainly includes: the main performance of the development target; the number of Party members who have the right to vote who should attend the meeting and who actually attended the meeting; the voting result; the date of the adoption of the resolution; and the signature of the branch secretary.

Article 23     Probationary Party members must be reviewed and approved by the Party committee (working committee, same applies below).

Primary-level Party committees which fall within the township (sub-district) Party committee [category] cannot review and approve probationary Party members but should review and discuss probationary Party members accepted by the branch general meeting.

General Party branches cannot review and approve probationary Party members but should review and discuss probationary Party members accepted by the branch general meeting.

Unless otherwise stipulated, temporary Party organizations cannot accept or review and approve probationary Party members.

Party groups cannot review and approve probationary Party members.

Article 24     Prior to Party committee review and approval, Party committee members or organizers shall be deployed to talk with the development target to gain further understanding and shall help the development target to improve their understanding of the Party. The person conducting the talk should truthfully fill in the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join with information on the talk and their opinion on whether the development target can join the Party, and shall report to the Party committee.

Article 25     Party committees when reviewing and approving probationary Party members must collectively discuss and vote.

The Party committee mainly reviews and discusses whether the development target meets the conditions for Party members and whether the procedures for joining the Party are complete. If the development target meets the conditions for Party members and the formalities for joining the Party are complete, approve them as probationary Party members. The Party committee’s approval opinion shall be written into the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join, indicating the start and end time of the probationary period, and the Party branch that submitted it for approval shall be notified. The Party branch should promptly notify the person in question and announce it at the Party members’ meeting. For those who have not been approved to join the Party, the Party branch and the person in question shall be notified, and thought work shall be carried out.

When the Party committee reviews and approves two or more development targets to join the Party, they shall deliberate and vote on each respectively.

Article 26     Party committees shall review and approve resolutions on receiving probationary Party members reported up by Party branches within three months and shall report up to the organization department of the higher-level Party committee for filing. In special circumstances, the review and approval time can be appropriately extended, but it shall not exceed six months.

Article 27     Under special circumstances, the Party Central Committee and the committees of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under central government may directly accept Party members.

Article 28     Persons who have heroically devoted themselves for the interests of the Party and the people in the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, whose deeds are outstanding, who have a great influence within a certain range, who always performed well during their lifetime, and who had presented a request to join the Party to a Party organization may be posthumously considered a Party member.

Posthumous recognizing of Party members must be strictly controlled. After discussion and decision by the Party organization of the person’s unit, having gone through review by the higher-level Party committee, report to the provincial-level Party committee for approval.

Chapter 5  Education, Testing and Assessment, and Conversion of Probationary Party Members

Article 29     Party organizations shall promptly incorporate probationary Party members approved by higher-level Party committees into Party branches and Party small groups and shall continue to conduct education and testing and assessment of probationary Party members.

Article 30     Prospective Party members must face the Party flag and take the oath of Party membership. The swearing-in ceremony for joining the Party is generally organized and carried out by the primary-level Party committee or Party branch (general Party branch).

Article 31     The Party organization shall educate and test and assess probationary Party members by means of the Party’s organizational life, listening to personal reports, individual heart-to-heart conversations, intensive training, and practical tempering.

Article 32     The probationary period for probationary Party members is one year. The probationary period starts from the date when the branch general meeting approves the target as a probationary Party member.

When the probationary period for a probationary Party member reaches completion, the Party branch shall promptly discuss whether they can be converted into a full Party member. Those who conscientiously perform their Party member obligations and meet the conditions for Party members shall be converted to schedule into full Party members. For those for whom it is necessary to continue tests and assessment and education, the probationary period can be extended once, with the extension period not being less than half a year and, at most, not more than one year. Those who do not fulfill Party member obligations and do not meet the conditions for Party membership shall have their qualification as a probationary Party member revoked.

If a probationary Party member violates Party discipline and the circumstances are relatively minor and probationary Party member qualification can still be retained, criticism and education shall be carried out or the probationary period shall be extended. If the circumstances are more serious, their probationary Party member qualification shall be revoked.

The conversion of probationary Party members into full Party members and the extension of the probationary period or the revocation of probationary Party member qualification shall be discussed and passed by a branch general meeting and approved by the higher-level Party organization.

Article 33     The procedures for converting probationary Party members to full ones are: the person in question submits a written application for conversion to the Party branch; the Party small group submits an opinion; the Party branch solicits the opinions of Party members and the masses; the branch committee reviews the application; the branch general meeting discusses and votes on passage; it is reported up to the higher-level Party committee for review and approval.

The branch general meeting to discuss converting probationary Party members shares the same requirements for number of people in attendance, number of people in favor, etc., as the branch general meeting to discuss receiving probationary Party members.

Article 34     The Party committee shall review and approve the resolution on the conversion of probationary Party members reported up by the Party branch within three months. The review and approval result shall be promptly notified to the Party branch. The Party branch secretary shall talk with the applicant and announce the review and approval at a Party members’ meeting.

A Party member’s length of Party standing shall be counted from the day when the probationary period reaches completion and they are converted to a full Party member.

Article 35     If the work or study unit (place of residence) of a prospective Party member whose probationary period has not yet reached completion changes, it shall be promptly reported to the original Party organization. The original Party organization shall promptly act diligently and responsibly to introduce the situation regarding their cultivation and education and testing and assessment to the Party organization that receives the probationary Party member.

The Party organization shall strictly review the admission materials of the transferring probationary Party member and for probationary Party members who cannot be identified it shall report to a Party committee organization department at or above county level for approval and not grant recognition.

Article 36     A primary-level Party organization may, when the probationary period reaches completion, should they deem it necessary, postpone discussion of conversion to full member of transferred-in probationary Party members; the delay shall not exceed six months. For those who are converted into full Party members, the time of their conversion shall be counted from the date on which the probationary period reaches completion.

Article 37     After a probationary Party member is converted into a full member, the Party branch shall promptly submit the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join, the Party application form, the political review materials, the conversion application form, and the cultivation and education and testing and assessment materials to the Party committee to be deposited into the person in question’s personnel file. If there is no personnel file, establish a Party member file, to be kept by the Party committee or the organization department of the county-level Party committee.

Chapter 6    Leadership and Discipline for Party Member Development Work

Article 38     Party committees at all levels should put Party member development work on the important agenda and incorporate it into the Party building work responsibility system as an important part of Party building work reporting, evaluation, assessment, and Party affairs disclosure.

For Party member development work, city (prefecture, state, league) and county (city, district, banner) Party committees shall perform inspections once every six months, and provincial, autonomous region, and municipality-under-central-government Party committees shall perform inspections once annually. Inspection results shall be promptly reported up and circulated downwards.

Attention shall be paid to Party member development from among young workers, peasants, and intellectuals, and the structure of Party member ranks shall be optimized. For primary-level Party organizations that have the conditions to develop Party members but have not done Party member development work for a long time, higher-level Party committees should strengthen guidance, and supervision and inspection, and when necessary should carry out organizing and rectification.

Article 39     Organization departments of Party committees at all levels should report to the Party committee at the same level and the organization department of the higher-level Party committee every year on the situation regarding Party member development work and on Party member development work plans, and shall truthfully reflect tendentious issues and the situation regarding the investigation and punishment of Party member development in violation of regulations.

Article 40     Party committees at or above the county level and their organization departments shall attach importance to the selection, allocation, and training of organizers and give full play to their role in Party member development work.

Article 41     Party organizations at all levels should seriously investigate and deal with violations of discipline and regulations and unhealthy practices in Party member development work. Criticism and education shall be given for those Party organizations and their responsible persons, and persons directly responsible, that fail to adhere to standards, fail to perform procedures, exceed the time limit for review and approval, are in dereliction of duty in cultivation and testing and assessment, and fail to strictly review; if the circumstances are serious disciplinary action shall be taken. Typical cases should be promptly circulated, and those whose absorption into the Party was in violation of regulations shall as a blanket rule not be recognized, and it shall be announced at a branch general meeting.

Those who use falsification or other means to develop into Party members people who do not meet the conditions of Party members, or who issue Party membership certificates for non-Party members, shall be dealt with severely in accordance with discipline and law.

Article 42     The format of the Chinese Communist Party Letter of Expression of Aspiration to Join shall be formulated by the Organization Department of the Central Committee and provincial-level Party committee organization departments shall uniformly print it according to the format and strictly manage it.

Chapter 7    Supplementary Provisions

Article 43     The Central Organization Department is responsible for the interpretation of these detailed rules.

Article 44     These detailed rules shall be implemented from the date of issuance. The Chinese Communist Party Detailed Rules for Party Member Development Work (for Trial Implementation) (ZZF [1990] No. 3) shall be repealed at the same time.