Beijing (AsiaNews) -- The Central Committee Congress of China's Communist Pary began today in Beijing.  The closed-door meeting gathers some 300 members (198 permanent) and will last until September 19. A main topic will be the search for ways to strengthen the Communist Party government and its efficiency on Chinese society and its vast population of 1.3 million.Since the death of Mao Zedong, the Communist Party has been searching for renewed legitimacy in the eyes of the nation's people.  China has gone from the revolutionary impulse of the Great Helmsman to modernization under Deng, arriving in 2002, under Jiang Zemin, to a party that defines itself as the vanguard of economic progress, to the point of including businessmen in its ranks. But economic reform and the restructuring of state-run industries --  which have resulted in closures and unemployment  -- have led to a highly polarized society where some are extremely rich and most -- hundreds of millions of peasants and labourers --  live in abject poverty.  Social tensions have led to disillusionment with the government and a party leadership accused of getting rich at the expense of the population.  Countless cases of corruption by party secretaries and local authorities have set off protests, sit-ins, pressure groups and clashes with police.  In past week, tens of thousands of people headed for Beijing to voice their complaints were blocked and beaten by police. From what can be gathered, the Congress will address the corruption question, opening the party to a "centralized democracy", with instruments to make members accountable for their actions and with internal elections for local positions, based on new rules for the assignment of power. Rumours have spread in the past few weeks that Jiang Zemin will likely step down as chairman of the Military Commission.  Jiang, who has already passed the pensionable age (75 years), is expected to retire from political office, leaving room for the leaders of the "Fourth Generation", president Hu Jintao and premier Wen Jiabao.  But in recent days, many messages have been emerging from the economic world (linked to Jiang Zemin) and from within the party criticizing the policies of Hu and Wen, for risking to create a "party leadership" crisis and damage to the economic interests of the so-called "Shangai clique", which revolves around Jiang Zemin.On the eve of the plenum yesterday, Hu Jintao was quick to assure that the CCP will remain firmly in command.  The adjustments to party structure are not going in the direction of creating a western-style democracy.  "We will never blindly copy the political system of another nation, " Hu said.  "History has shown that indiscriminately copying the West's political system leads China into a dead end."All this was in reply to urgings and recommendations from academics and sociologists, who have been insisting for some time that the only way to fight corruption is to adopt a democratic model, a style of government based on the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers, along with a multi-party system.

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