How Xi Jinping and Communist Party elders shaped key plenum document addressing wrongdoing

Retired cadres were consulted during the eight-month drafting of a landmark document on building China’s Communist Party endorsed at a major political meeting in Beijing last week, according to state media.A detailed account published by Xinhua on Monday gave a behind-the-scenes look into how the 20th Central Committee finalised its resolution on “persevering with full and rigorous party self-governance”, adopted at the fifth plenum, which ended on Thursday.The 17,000-Chinese character, eight-part document – setting out more than 200 measures to regulate cadre conduct, curb corruption and rein in unchecked top officials – went through 36 iterations, five full drafting sessions and 35 specialised workshops, after the process began at a Politburo meeting on January 30.