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General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party

head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and de facto leader of China

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ849418 ↗
Source-derived summary

The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The general secretary leads the CCP Central Committee. Since 1989, the general secretary has been the country's paramount leader. The general secretary has also been the political chief position of China (above the president and premier) since 1982.

Following the establishment of the CCP at the 1st Party National Congress in 1921, Chen Duxiu served as the secretary of the Central Bureau. In 1922, he became the chairman of the Central Executive Committee. The position of general secretary of the Central Committee was established at the 4th Party National Congress in 1925, when Chen was elected as the first general secretary. After the 7th Party National Congress in 1945, the position was replaced by the chairman of the Central Committee, which was held by Mao Zedong until his death in 1976. The post was re-established at the 12th Party National Congress in 1982 and replaced the CCP chairman as the highest leadership position of the CCP; Hu Yaobang was the first general secretary. Although the general secretary was the highest office in the CCP, it only became the most powerful post after Deng Xiaoping's retirement in 1989.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party” is head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and de facto leader of China. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through General, Secretary and Chinese, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1989, 1982, 1921, 1922—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1925-01-01, 1982—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. For this dossier, General, Secretary and Chinese is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and de facto leader of China” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q849418. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1982, 1921 and 1922.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
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  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party primary sources, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party archive and General research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.