By Li Cunnan, special commentator with Panview

July 1, 2016 is the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The Party began as a small boat, and despite experiencing strong winds and rain, it made every effort to move forward, and had emerged into a big ship.

Today, the international community is paying close attention to the future direction of the Chinese Communist Party. We have entered an era, which means not knowing the CCP indicates not knowing China.

What does the 95-year-old Chinese Communist Party look like? Panview column invited experts to write articles on the subject matter.

95 years is not very long for a modern political party. The Conservative Party has existed for more than 300 years history in Great Britain. The Democratic Party of United States has survived for over 200 years, and the French Socialist Party has been around for 100 years.

Nevertheless, scholar Zhang Weiwei said the Chinese Communist Party is a national political party， which is far different from others. It is a product originating from a long history of the Chinese nation, and has played a central role in the nation's historical progress from weakness to revival.

Historically, political parties have rises with the decline of monarchy. They are associated with social changes in their respective countries. Most modern political parties are embedded in the grand picture of the nation's modern transformation.

The Famous British political thinker Stuart Mill said the fundamental political system is a product growing out of the characteristics and life of the people in the country. They form political parties and systems suitable for their national conditions.

Great Britain has seldom been invaded by foreign countries, so its social development is stable. Therefore, it formed a cautious, rational, and reconciling ethos.

The governing philosophy of the Conservative Party, which is the main British political party, suits their purposes. However, Americans favor individualism, liberalism, and do not trust government.

In the history of Western countries, political parties were often formed to represent the interests of different social groups in electoral politics. The parties are born for elections to complete their missions of governing. Political parties promote dynamic adjustments of social patterns to safeguard stability and development.

The situation is different in China. The earliest Chinese Parties had stemmed from the early 20th Century. After establishment of the Republic of China, numerous political parties had emerged. There were expectations to establish a parliamentary system with multi-party politics, but that turned into a mere fantasy.

Due to internal and external troubles, along with sovereignty loss in modern times, China cannot bear the fruit of a Western election political party. In fact, many Chinese political parties, including the early China Revival Society, the Chinese Revolutionary League and later Kuomintang were not election political party apparatuses but revolutionary parties.

They sought not to win elections, but to deliver the long-suffering nation out of darkness, and to build an independent modern state, which had ultimately been realized by the Chinese Communist Party.

Faced with numerous challenges, initially there were only a few dozen founding members of the Communist Party of China, and they had combined an advanced theory from the West and local cultural wisdom to create a new China.

The Communist Party of China had set up a new type of army from the people. They started from the bottom of society to reshape grass-roots organizations, and to refresh the national mentality of inferiority in modern times and to unite all Chinese people.

They trained people to govern, united elites and organized people against foreign aggression and domestic dictatorship forces.  After some 30 years of struggles, they had established a thriving new China in 1949, and had brought forth an ancient nation into the light.

The 95-year-old Chinese Communist Party was born under the 170 years of development of the Chinese nation, but also hails from the 5,000 years old Chinese civilization heritage, which enjoys deep historical roots.

In the past 60 years of new China construction and 30 years of reform and opening up, the Communist Party of China has scored great achievements and forged itself as the core for Chinese governance, integrating it with the national fate.

The Communist Party of China remains committed to adjust to the reality of interests, promote social transformation, and move forward on a great journey of national rejuvenation.

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

Panview offers an alternative angle on China and the rest of the world through the analyses and opinions of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.