In A Class Of Their Own

Party schools have played a central role in the intellectual development and political education of officials from both China and overseas, as Tang Yue reports.

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of articles China Daily will publish in the next few days looking at the structure, history and influence of the Chinese Communist Party as it celebrates the 95th anniversary of its foundation.

There is a group of extremely powerful academies in China, but you won't see them on the lists of university rankings. They have more power to shape the minds of the country's most powerful people and, in turn, its future than any other institutions.