[citation needed] Secretaries of the secretariat (Shujichu Shuji) are considered some of the most important political positions in the CCP and contemporary China, more generally.

Each secretariat secretary is generally in charge of one of the major party departments directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Committee.

By protocol, its members are ranked above the vice chairmen of the National People's Congress as well as State Councilors.

The 1st Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee opted to re-elect Deng Xiaoping as secretary-general with no deputy on 28 September 1956.

It is unclear when this office stopped functioning, and the Secretariat more generally, but the 9th National Congress in 1969 decided to abolish these institutions.

[3] This occurred at the 5th Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee on 23–29 February 1980, but this plenum also decided to abolish the offices of deputy secretary-general.

A member of both the Politburo Standing Committee and the Secretariat, the officeholder is considered one of the most powerful figures in China's political system.