Editor's note: July 1, 2016 is the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The Party was founded on board a small pleasure 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 CCP. 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.

The specialty of the Communist Party of China (CPC) lies in its guiding principles and theoretical system, as well as its organizational form. Today's CPC remains an unprecedented organization with the largest number of party members among political parties all over the world. 

According to statistics as of 2014, the CPC has 4.36 million fundamental organizations and 87.793 million members. The latter number far exceeds party members of other countries and even exceeds the total population of some European nations.

CPC enforces strict disciplines and operating mechanisms

The Constitution of the CPC stipulates that individuals should obey the party organization, the minority obey the majority, lower levels obey higher levels and party organizations at all levels and all membership obey the National Congress of the Party and Central Committee.

Since building the CPC, organizational rules stand at the kernel position. During China's Revolutionary War, many heard the song Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention; as People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops marched into Nanjing, nearly no civilian was harassed by them, which reflected the strict disciplines of the PLA. In the past 95 years, the disciplines of the CPC had gradually developed from nothing into a more elaborate system. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the CPC held in Nov. 2012, the Party Legal System has been strengthened to accomplish its mission in a new era.

Many western political parties were established by a freedom of association, either as social organizations or personal organizations. As "social groups," this kind of party has a comparatively slack organizational system.

Take American parties for example, the Democratic and Republican parties have their respective constitutions and committees at all levels. However, the committees are not grouped by subordination values. They are just set for election campaigns. Voters tend to favor a certain party's candidate when enrolling in voter-registration.

There are no procedures such as "inspections from the organization" or mandating "approval." They can withdraw from a political party or join other parties. The only obligation for party members would be to vote for a candidate of their designated party.

Party members are not required to take an oath that require them not to betray the party, handing in party membership dues, or take part in regular membership activities.

As "social groups", American parties do not decide on enforcement measures. For party members who work as civil servants, they have their own supervision system, and some have Party supervisors who are called "Party whips" to ensure a consistent political opinion in legislature.

One of CPC's advantages is embodied in its powerful cohesion, for mobilizing executive force. According to the party's rule, all places with at least three party members, such as enterprises, countryside, scientific research institutions, sub-district communities, social groups and so on, should form the Party's organizations.

They are just like a big tree's root system deep underground, conveying nutrients to the tree, coordinating with the Party's long-term revolutionary struggles and practices.

Meanwhile, the CPC sticks to the principles of democratic centralism, which requires centralism based on democracy and the democracy under centralism. Party organizations at all levels are inspired to conform.

The organizational advantages make it possible to concentrate on the overall situation, tackling big issues to allocate resources and deal with all difficulties, which would be impossible for parties with loose organizations.

Many western scholars admit that to deal with a crisis and big issues, the decision-making efficiency of the CPC are better than that of western countries, as demonstrated by the organization of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2010 Shanghai World Expos and mobilization support for  Wenchuan Earthquake Relief.

A scientific organizational system can develop in response to the calls of the times, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has gained a powerful foundation, allowing them to stand firmly in the world and march forward with pride.

The CPC is a voluntary choice of our society's elite members, which has united high-quality individuals and talents from all walks of life. The CPC is like an icebreaker sailing on the route of national rejuvenation, overcoming all obstacles to realize the dreams for hundreds of millions of Chinese people.

( 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.