BEIJING -- The Chinese Communist Party is planning a key historical overview previously issued only under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping as President Xi Jinping steps up his push to secure a third term as leader at the party congress next fall and usher in a new age.
The Central Committee will review a "key resolution on the major achievements and historical experience of the party's 100 years of endeavors" during a Nov. 8-11 plenary session, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday after a Politburo decision.
The resolution is expected to pass Nov. 11.
Such documents have been issued just twice before: under Mao Zedong in 1945 and under Deng Xiaoping in 1981. They hold extreme political significance, as they set the party's official record and guide future leadership and policy.
The first resolution summarized lessons from political and military history at Mao's behest. The second was drafted as Deng was reforming and opening up China -- and declared Mao's Cultural Revolution itself a mistake.
"This year marks 100 years since the Communist Party was founded and 40 years since the second resolution was issued," a source familiar with dealings inside the party said. "A third resolution will mark the official beginning of Xi's 'new era.'"
The new resolution is expected to enshrine the anti-corruption and anti-poverty drives advanced under Xi among the party's successes and serve as a key milestone in the party's 100-year history.
Xi -- who took power in 2012 as general secretary of the party and became China's president in 2013 -- is believed to be especially interested in outshining Deng's legacy.
The Museum of the Communist Party of China opened this summer in Beijing for the party's centennial. Its exhibits are divided into four: through the founding of the People's Republic of China; until Mao's death; the tenures of Deng, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao; and the Xi era.
Similar exhibits have generally placed a break before or after Deng's reforms and opening up. Given the party leadership's close involvement with the museum, there had been speculation that the exhibit was intended to pave the way for a third resolution on history.