三個代表

Three Represents

Shorthand for the call that the Communist Party of China (CPC) provides insight and leadership for economic and cultural progress, and commit itself to public good.

Former CPC General Secretary Jiang Zemin, who was credited with its creation, literally admonished his comrades to "represent the development trend of China's most advanced productive forces, the orientation of China's most advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people".

The theory is the result of deliberations of the CPC's third-generation leaders on legitimacy and Party-building. At the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002, it was formally written into the Party Constitution.