One day to go: three meetings in a row

Party delegates are kept busy the day before the opening of the National Party Congress. On that day, each representative group will hold a plenary meeting in the hotel they stay in the morning. At this meeting, the delegates need to elect their group leaders, and discuss the candidates for the Presidium and the secretary-general to take charge of the congress's day-to-day work.

Then follows the second meeting of the day. In the afternoon, a preparatory meeting will be held at the Great Hall of the People for all delegates to choose members of the Delegates' Qualification Review Committee, the Presidium and the secretary-general, and also to approve the agenda for the coming congress.

After the preparatory meeting, the Presidium members will continue to hold a third meeting to approve the names on its Standing Committee list. After that, the Presidium will go through a list of names for the task of deputy secretary-general and a review report on the delegates' qualifications.

Tribute to veteran revolutionaries

At the opening ceremony of the last Party Congress, after singing the national anthem, attendants were requested to stand in silent tribute to late veteran revolutionaries and martyrs, including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.

This sign of respect has been taken into account for many years during previous Party congresses

Three Presidium meetings

During the opening ceremony of the 17th Party Congress on Oct. 15, 2007, General Secretary of the 16th CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao reported on the state of affairs on behalf of the CPC Central Committee. In the afternoon, all delegates gathered in group meetings to deliberate and discuss the report.

During the three days preceding the congress, the representative groups focused on discussions of the Central Committee's report, the report of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee, and the amendments to the Party's Constitution. The opinions of various representative groups were summarized and resolutions (draft) were formed.

In the afternoon of October 17, 2007, the Presidium held its second plenary meeting and passed the resolutions (draft) concerning the amendments to the Party's Constitution, the reports of the 16th Central Committee and the Commission for Discipline Inspection. These three drafts were then submitted to the representative groups for further discussion and put to the vote of all delegates.