The Communist Party of China (CPC), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and ruling

Ruling party

The ruling party or governing party in a parliamentary system is the political party or coalition of the majority in parliament. Within a parliamentary system, the majority in the legislature also controls the executive branch of government, thus leaving no possibility of dueling parties...

 political party of the People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

 (PRC). Although nominally it exists alongside the United Front

United Front (PRC)

The United Front in the People's Republic of China is a nominally popular front led by the Communist Party of China. It is managed by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and besides the communist party it consists of eight minor parties and the...

, a coalition of governing political parties, in practice, the CPC is the only party

Single-party state

A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...

 of the PRC, maintaining a unitary government

Unitary state

A unitary state is a state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that their central government chooses to delegate...

 and centralizing the state, military, and media. The legal power of the Communist Party is guaranteed by the national constitution

Constitution of the People's Republic of China

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the highest law within the People's Republic of China. The current version was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982 with further revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999, and 2004. Three previous state constitutions—those of...

.