The Communist Party of China (CPC) does not convey the tangible spirituality that gongchandang (CPC in Chinese) does, especially because the word "communist" has very different meanings for people in the West and China.

To learn about gongchandang, we need to understand the complexity and substance of the CPC, and focus on what it actually does to understand its nature.

Is the CPC a monopoly in Chinese politics? Western people would say "yes, of course", because they view the CPC as the ultimate decision-maker in the country. I think the CPC's answer to the question would be "no", for there are many other parties which are part of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political body that contributes to the establishment of top national and local policies in China.

For a balanced understanding, we need to recognize that the CPC has functioned in a competitive set-up right from the day it was born in July 1921. It has faced constant competition to garner the support of the Chinese people. Kuomintang, the incumbent party in Taiwan except for a few years in the last decade, has never stopped competing with the CPC. The competition was fierce from the 1920s to 1940s, with a major civil war before 1949.

Indirectly, political, social and economic developments in some countries such as Singapore and South Korea also put competitive pressure on the CPC, because the ruling parties in those countries provided faster economic growth and better livelihoods for their people. Like any other political party in the world, the CPC also needs to win people's support by improving their livelihoods.

In the process of winning people's support, the CPC has evolved into a competent manager of China's great transformation from a semi-feudal, semi-colonial, war-torn, underdeveloped society with massive poverty into a modern society with high economic growth and greater economic, social and political freedom. This is similar to what Singapore's ruling party did under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew.

What the CPC has been doing for 90 years can be divided into two categories - working on reform or to build institutions and acting as a substitute for the people and institutions to fight crises.

The CPC has been working constantly on reform, or the establishment of institutions we normally see in a modern Western society. We can call these institutions "property rights infrastructure", which are used to define and protect property rights, allow free exchange of property rights and resolve property rights disputes.

Reform includes the replacement of the commune system by the family farming system, the permission to transfer land-use rights that led to booming commercial and residential property markets, and the creation of company and other laws and regulations governing business, trade and finance. Once these institutions, essential for a modern society, are established, the CPC would become less burdened and relevant in the daily life of ordinary people. Today, about two-thirds of China's GDP come from the non-State sector with little CPC or government intervention.

In fighting crises, the CPC acts as a substitute for the institutions that are not yet mature enough. I would put democratic intra-Party elections, maintaining judicial independence, management of macroeconomic policies and national assets, provisions of social safety net, dealing with natural disasters, and managing national security in this category as well.

As an experienced crisis-fighting organization and the ultimate insurer of all accidents in China's political, social and economic life, the CPC is very sensitive to any political, social or economic risk that the country faces. Its leaders are devoted to building governance capacity and preventing risks, and are eager to learn from other countries' experiences. The CPC has become less ideological and more pragmatic than parties in the most advanced democratic countries like the United States and European Union member states. As a result, it has performed better, especially in times of crises.

But as China enters the middle-income stage, the challenges facing the CPC in completing the country's great transformation are getting more serious and complicated. On one hand, the Chinese people's aspirations are higher today. On the other, the international community's expectations from China have increased manifold, for it wants China to take on greater responsibilities in world affairs.

China's history is proof that the CPC will do better by delegating its crisis-fighting responsibility to properly established modern institutions, for they can do the job more professionally. I am confident that this will happen, especially because the CPC now strictly enforces the retirement age and terms for key leadership posts, which in turn ensures long-term political stability. With long-term political stability largely becoming a reality, the CPC has much more to gain by focusing on institution-building instead of fighting crises all by itself.

The author is a professor at and director of Columbia University's Global Center in Beijing.

(China Daily 06/09/2011 page9)