FACTIONS IN THE CCP

'ONE PARTY, TWO COALITIONS' -- CHINA'S FACTIONAL POLITICS

Alexis Lai

CNN, October 24, 2012

Hong Kong (CNN) -- To the casual observer, the Chinese Communist Party may seem like a monolithic, united entity.

In recent years, its leadership has ruled collectively, rather than by the hand of a paramount leader, which was a characteristic of the Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping eras.

But while the party outwardly stresses harmony and unity, political analysts believe its estimated 80-million-strong members are divided along deep-rooted factional lines with varying perspectives on social, economic, political, military and foreign affairs.

CNN looks at what makes the Chinese party machine tick.

Who are the key factional powers within the party?

On China: Bo Xilai

The Chinese Communist Party is broadly divided between informal "elitist" and "populist" coalitions, according to China expert and Brookings Institution analyst Cheng Li. Other analysts conceive of the split in different terms, such as between liberal-minded reformist and conservative hard-liner camps.

On China: Xi Jinping

Li argues the core elitist faction is the "taizidang," or so-called "princelings" -- the offspring of former revolutionary leaders and high-ranking officials. Another elite, albeit fading, faction is the so-called "Shanghai Gang," or followers of Jiang Zemin, who served as mayor of Shanghai before becoming China's supreme leader in 1989.

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