Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), in Chinese Zhongyang Jiwei (中央纪律检查委员会), is the supreme organ of internal supervision within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), charged with upholding Party discipline, investigating violations by Party members, and combating corruption. Its constitutional basis lies in the CCP Constitution (Party Charter), particularly the chapter on Party Discipline Inspection Organs, which mandates the election of the Central Commission by the National Party Congress for a five-year term concurrent with the Central Committee. First established at the First Plenary Session of the Eighth Party Congress in 1956 as the Central Control Commission, it was abolished during the Cultural Revolution and revived at the landmark Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978, the same meeting that launched Deng Xiaoping's reform era, underscoring its role in restoring institutional order.

The CCDI operates under the dual leadership system: discipline inspection commissions at each level answer both to the Party committee at their own level and to the higher-level discipline commission, a structure tightened under Xi Jinping to enhance vertical, centralised control. Its principal weapon historically was shuanggui (双规), an extra-legal detention measure compelling members to confess at a "designated time and place." Following the 2018 constitutional amendment and the National Supervision Law, shuanggui was replaced by liuzhi (留置, retention in custody) and the CCDI was merged operationally with the newly created National Supervisory Commission (NSC)—a state organ ranking above the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate—allowing it to investigate all public officials, not merely Party members. The two bodies function as "one institution with two nameplates," sharing personnel and offices.

Under Xi Jinping, the CCDI became the principal instrument of the anti-corruption campaign launched after the Eighteenth Party Congress (2012), targeting both "tigers" (senior officials) and "flies" (low-level cadres). Wang Qishan chaired the Commission from 2012 to 2017 and presided over high-profile prosecutions including former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang and military leaders Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong. As of 2026 the CCDI is headed by Li Xi, a Politburo Standing Committee member elected at the Twentieth Party Congress (2022), and continues to deploy "discipline inspection tours" (xunshi) and centralised inspection teams across provinces, ministries, and state-owned enterprises to enforce Party loyalty and the campaign against the "four forms of decadence."

For the China Political System paper, candidates must distinguish the CCDI (a Party organ) from the National Supervisory Commission (a state organ) while recognising their integration, and trace the constitutional and statutory bases—the 2018 State Constitution amendment that inserted supervisory commissions and the Supervision Law of 2018. Typical examination angles probe the dual leadership mechanism, the transition from shuanggui to liuzhi, the body's place in Xi's centralisation of power, and comparisons with independent anti-corruption agencies such as Hong Kong's ICAC or Singapore's CPIB. Comparative-government and current-affairs sections frequently test the CCDI's role in Party-state fusion and rule-by-Party versus rule-of-law debates.