In the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the third plenary sessions of each Party central committee since China's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s played major role in guiding the country's economic development and restructuring. Many policies of epoch-making significance were agreed upon in these sessions.

Previous Party Committee third plenary sessions have introduced sweeping reforms. [File photo]

Following the CPC's protocols, the first plenary session of each Party congress elects the country's top leadership, the second deals with government personnel changes. The CPC central committee usually calls the third plenary session one year after the first one, during which the new leadership usually agrees on how to steer the country forward.

At the third plenary session, the current leadership headed by President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang are expected to express their thoughts on guiding the country.

Past third plenary sessions: a review

The third plenary session of the CPC's 11th Central Committee held in 1978 was the most important such conference so far. China's second generation of leadership headed by Deng Xiaoping criticized the "two whatevers" ("we will resolutely defend whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Mao Zedong gave."), and resolutely abolished the slogan of "taking class struggle as the key link."

The session established the guiding principle of the Party's ideological line i.e. "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth." It shifted the emphasis from internal struggle and revolution to socialist modernization and the policy of reform and opening up. It also re-evaluated some former state and Party leaders.

In 1984, the third plenary session of the CPC's 12th Central Committee pointed out that China's socialist economy was not a planned economy, but a commodity economy based on public ownership. In the wake of this session, Chinese companies were allowed to issue stock.