[1] CCP general secretary Xi Jinping held a high-profile 'revival' of the democratic life meeting at the provincial party headquarters of Hebei province in September 2013.
Xi has since used the meetings as venues to propagate the "mass line" education which was supposed to bring CCP officials better serve the needs of ordinary people.
[1] Lower level officials have reported reluctance by some participants to speak the truth at the meetings for fear of contents being used against them later on.
It was the first time such a meeting was held in a high-profile fashion at the Politburo level since the downfall of Hu Yaobang.
In December 2018, the 25 members of the Politburo assembled for a democratic life meeting chaired by Xi Jinping.