Abstract: Bravery and readiness to reform itself is an intrinsic character of Marxist political parties and it is this prominent mark that distinguishes the Communist Party of China (CPC) from other political parties. In the theoretic system of the western political party discourse based on centralism, elements represented by number of parties and member identity do not constitute the core criteria to judge the quality of a party. When we analyze theories of the western centralist political parties and compare them with those of China, the character of self-reform is a pivotal distinguishing quality. Based on an introduction and a comparative analysis of the concept of self-reform of the CPC, it is found that the CPC has a strong sense of self-reform and its governance is characterized by long-termed periodicity, integrity and progression. From a long-term historical perspective, political parties with strong sense of self-reform is more resilient to survive long.

Key words: self-reform, political party, Marxist political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC)