The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), commonly referred to as Èrshí Dà (Chinese: 二十大), was held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing from 16 to 22 October 2022. The National Congress is the highest organ of the party, and is stipulated to be held every five years. The conference had 2,296 delegates and 83 specially invited delegates.

The CCP Congress endorsed the amendments to the CCP constitution, membership list of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and elected the 20th Central Committee of the CCP. The day after the closing of the Congress, the 1st Plenary Session was held at which The Central Committee approved the composition of the Secretariat. Soon after, the members of the Politburo and its Standing Committee, the party's most powerful decision-making body. Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented third term as CCP general secretary after the Congress. It will likely be followed by the 21st National Congress of the CCP in 2027.

Preparations for the 20th Chinese Communist Party National Congress began in 2021 and ended with a plenary session of the 19th Central Committee, a few days prior to the 20th National Congress.^[1] Elections for the delegates of the 20th Chinese Communist Party National Congress started in November 2021,^[2] as well as receiving and amending party documents. In that month, the 19th Central Committee decided in its sixth plenary session that the 20th National Congress would be held in the second half of 2022.^[3]

In May 2022, the CCP General Office issued a set of regulations warning retired members not to make any ‘negative’ political comments or discussion of the party's policies in the run-up to the 20th National Congress and that violations of the disciplinary rules will be ‘dealt with seriously’.^[4]

On 30 August, the Politburo held a meeting for preparatory work for the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee and the 20th National Congress, which put the dates for the Plenary Session and the Congress on 9 October and 16 October respectively.^[5]

In September, unsubstantiated rumors of a coup spread throughout social media, but were quashed after Xi Jinping appeared days later.^[6]

A total of 2,296 delegates were elected to represent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s 96.7 million members by 25 September 2022.^[7]

On 13 October, three days prior to the opening of the CCP National Congress, the Beijing Sitong Bridge protest took place.^[8][9] This protest against Xi Jinping and his policies was rare as it came just days before the start of the Congress, a period during which the authorities imposed extremely tight control over protests and dissent.^[10] Similar protest slogans subsequently appeared in other cities in China and around the world.^[11][12][13] Some people shared these messages as graffiti or via AirDrop.^[11][14]

On 15 October, a preparatory meeting of the party congress was presided by CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, which elected the Presidium of the 20th Chinese Communist Party National Congress and the Qualification Review Committee. In the meeting, it was decided that Wang Huning would serve as the secretary-general of the party congress.^[15] On the same day, the presidium of the National Congress, chaired by Wang Huning, held its first session.^[16]

On 16 October, at 10 am, Li Keqiang announced the opening of the conference.^[17] Subsequently, Xi gave a work report in behalf of the 19th Central Committee. The speech lasted for around 104 minutes, roughly half of his speech in the 19th Congress.^[18][19] During the speech, he defended China's zero-COVID approach to the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, said that Hong Kong had "a major transition from chaos to governance", advocated for Taiwan's "peaceful reunification" but vowed to not renounce the use of force, advocated for "common prosperity," and denounced corruption. Xi reaffirmed China's socialist market economy, including support for both the public ownership system and the private economy.^[20] He also spoke of enacting policies to boost China's birth rate, which is among the lowest in the world.^[21] Additionally, he emphasized China's national security, including food, energy, and supply chain safety.^[22] Xi outlined the "Chinese path to modernization", mentioning the slogan 11 times.^[23] On China's position on the world stage, he said that "China’s international influence, appeal and power to shape the world has significantly increased".^[24] Overall, the speech was said to be showing continuity rather than change.^[25]

The second meeting of the Presidium was held on 18 October, presided by Xi. The meeting decided to submit draft resolutions on the 19th Central Committee's and 19th CCDI's reports as well as the amendment to the Party Constitution. It also adopted proposed lists of preliminary nominees for the 20th Central Committee and the 20th CCDI.^[26] The draft name lists for both were approved during the third meeting of the Presidium, held on 21 October.^[27] On 22 October, the National Congress adopted the work reports of the 19th Central Committee and the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It also adopted the proposed amendments to the Party Constitution, and elected members of the 20th Central Committee and the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Official voting results showed that all proposals passed unanimously with no abstentions or negative votes.^[28] The National Congress concluded that day.^[29]

At the closing ceremony on 22 October, Hu Jintao, the former General Secretary of the CCP and President, who had been sitting next to Xi, was pulled from his seat and escorted out of the hall by two men in suits and with name badges.^[30][31][32] This incident occurred before the votes that day, and Hu was absent from the voting due to this incident.^[33][34] Xinhua News Agency, China's official press agency, stated that Hu was not feeling well,^[35] while foreign news speculated whether Hu was genuinely sick or whether this was a deliberate political signal by Xi.^[36][37][38] The incident was not broadcast in China and both Hu's and Hu's son's names were blocked by Chinese censors.^[39] Academics Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung write that the ban on images and reporting of the incident suggests that Xi did not intend to humiliate Hu.^[40]: 1

• Xi Jinping Administration
• Succession of power in China