The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Communist Party of China. It is currently composed of 205 full members and 171 alternate members (see list). Members are elected once every five years by the National Congress of the Communist Party of China (NCCPC).
The National CPC Congress should not be confused with the National People's Congress (NPC) which is the legislature of the People's Republic of China. Similar to the practice of the NPC, the delegates to the Congress are formally selected from grassroot party organizations, and like the NPC, the system of staggered elections in which one level of the party votes for the delegates to the next higher level allows the party center to control the election of delegates.
How does the Congress work?
Local congresses have been held in each of China's provinces and autonomous regions (such as Tibet and Xinjiang) and have selected representatives to send to Beijing.
No more than 68 per cent of the delegates may hold leadership positions within the party. The remaining 32 per cent should be "grassroots" party members who hold jobs outside of the party apparatus.
In 2007, at the 17th Congress, the Central Committee had 155 members from the provinces, 125 from the central government in Beijing and 64 from the People's Liberation Army.
The Congress will choose who sits on the 200-person Central Committee, and who its 180 or so alternate members will be. It also chooses the 25-man Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee, which could shrink back to seven men again this year. In practice, all of the decisions are made not by delegates but by the previous generation(s) of leaders and are handed down and rubber-stamped during the meeting.
In China, the government makes the rules of the party.
In the US, the parties make their own rules, not the government.