China Zhi Gong Party

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(Redirected from China Party for Public Interest)

The China Zhi Gong Party (CZGP) or China Party for Public Interest^{[citation needed]} (simplified Chinese: 中国致公党; traditional Chinese: 中國致公黨; pinyin: Zhōngguó Zhìgōngdǎng;) is one of the eight legally-recognised political parties in the People's Republic of China that follow the direction of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and are member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The China Zhi Gong Party derives from the overseas Hung Society organisation "Hung Society Zhigong Hall", based in San Francisco, USA. This organisation was one of the key supporters of Sun Yat-sen in his revolutionary efforts to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

The party was founded on October 1925 in San Francisco, and was led by Chen Jiongming and Tang Jiyao, two ex-Kuomintang warlords that went into opposition. Their first platform was federalism and multi-party democracy. The party moved its headquarters to Hong Kong in 1926. After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 it began engaging in anti-Japanese propaganda and boycotts. The party was nearly wiped out during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. The party turned to the left during its third party congress in 1947. Today composed of returned overseas Chinese, their relatives, and noted figures and scholars who have overseas ties.

After the People's Republic of China was founded, at the invitation of the CPC, representatives of the CZGP attended the First Plenary Session of the CPPCC in 1949. They participated in drawing up the CPPCC Common Program and electing the Central People's Government. Since then, the CZGP has made an important contribution to implementing overseas Chinese policies and strengthening ties with Hong Kong and Macau compatriots as well as overseas Chinese for the reunification of the motherland.

On occasions, the party appears to be used as a convenient intermediary for contacts with certain foreign interests. For example, when a delegation of Paraguayan politicians visited Beijing in 2001 and met Li Peng (despite Paraguay having diplomatic relations not with PRC but with ROC in Taiwan), it was invited not by the PRC government or the Communist Party, but by the Zhi Gong Party.^[1]

In April 2007, Wan Gang, Deputy Chair of the Zhi Gong Party Central Committee, was appointed Technology Minister of the People's Republic of China. This was the first non-Communist Party ministerial appointment in China since the 1950s.