Delegates to the 16th Party Congress said enhancing Party building at the primary level is the key to unite the will and the strength of the Chinese people for the construction of a well-off society and for the country's modernization.

Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin said in his report delivered at the opening session of the congress last Friday that to build the Party well at the primary level, reinforce its class foundation and expand its mass base is one of the six major tasks to strengthen and improve Party building.

To this end, steady work should be done to implement the "Three Represents" philosophy and integrate it with every aspect of Party building to ensure the Party's purity and its role as the vanguard both of the working class and of the Chinese nation forever, delegates said.

Grassroots Party organizations constitute the foundation of the Party's work and of its fighting capacity, pointed out Liu Ruilian, a delegate from Anhui Province.

It is crucial that Party branches be built into a core that can lead the masses to get rich and realize a well-off life, she said in a group discussion on Jiang's report.

To win the support of the masses, Party branches should always focus their efforts on doing concrete and good deeds for the masses, she added.

Xiao Ruihua, a delegate from Qinghai Province and also a standing member of the Provincial Party Committee, said Party branches have been set up in about one-third of the province's private businesses. In comparison, the Party organizations in non-State owned enterprises across the country exceeded 71,000 by the end of last year.

Responding to a question on whether the Communist Party of China still appeals to non-Party members, Xiao said that the Party has a strong appeal to the masses, especially young people.

The latest statistics show the Party's total membership topped 66.3 million by the end of June, and that in 2001, applications for Party membership amounted to 14.4 million. From 1997 to June 2001, 11.89 million new members were accepted into the Party, among which 75 per cent were under 35 years old and 78.6 per cent had received education above secondary school.

(China Daily)

Jiang Zemin, in his report to the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, said the Party's door is open to all positive factors of the society, including private entrepreneurs, foreign-invested firm employees, self-employed businessmen and freelance professionals, he also said that the Party should advance with the times. What's your opinion?