Shifting its focus from fighting corruption and Party rule violations in the initial rounds of inspections, the amendment raised political inspection to a more prominent place on its agenda.
The revised rules clearly say that "political inspection should be deepened, and inspections should mainly focus on upholding the Party leadership, improving Party building, and advancing comprehensive and strict rule of the Party."
"Inspections should staunchly safeguard the authority and the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, and ensure the CPC is always the firm and core leadership of the socialist cause with Chinese characteristics," it said.
For Professor Wang Yukai, with the Chinese Academy of Governance, the revised rules summarize and institutionalize innovations and practices in inspection work, serving to "further sharpen the sword of intra-Party supervision."
So far, there have been 12 rounds of Party inspections, covering provincial-level CPC organizations, central CPC and government departments, major state-owned enterprises, central financial institutions and centrally-administered universities.
The 18th CPC Central Committee was the first in Party history to successfully inspect all these entities in a five-year term.
These inspections were but a fraction of CPC efforts to intensify intra-Party supervision and step up Party governance -- a key feature of the "Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy" raised by Xi in 2014.
Since the CPC 18th National Congress in 2012, the CPC Central Committee under Xi Jinping's leadership has insisted on addressing "four forms of decadence" -- formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance.
The crackdown on corruption and other misconduct also shows the general public the Party's ambitions to eliminate injustice.
Over 200 centrally administered officials have been investigated so far, and more than 1.1 millon people have received punishment for breaching Party regulations and discipline. Among them were senior officials, including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua and Su Rong.
In addition, about 3,000 fugitives have been returned from 90 countries and regions.
"The battle against corruption has gained crushing momentum," according to a 2016 report by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"Strict Party governance is a core part of China's socialist democratic politics with Chinese characteristics," said Zheng Changzhong, an expert on Party building at Shanghai-based Fudan University. "It is a key means for the CPC to retain self-purification, self-improvement, and self-reform, as well as to consolidate its foundation of the governance of China."
EVER-INCREASING DEMOCRACY
Jiang Shengxia, Party secretary of the village of Panlong in eastern China's Anhui Province, did not believe she stood a chance when her village Party committee recommended her as a candidate to attend the 19th CPC National Congress slated for October.
The CPC national congress takes place every five years. The delegates are not full-time, and come from all walks of life.
Having worked in the impoverished countryside for more than 30 years, Jiang had turned Panlong into a prosperous and well-known village in Anhui.
Her election as a delegate to the national congress -- through elections by Party members at county, municipal and provincial level -- showcases the ever-increasing democracy within the CPC.
Nationwide, 2,300 delegates will represent China's 89 million CPC members at the 19th National Congress, which will discuss and set the future direction for the Party and state, and elect a new central leadership.
The upcoming session will see a higher percentage of grassroots delegates working on the frontline compared with five years ago.
For the CPC, intra-Party democracy has long been viewed as precious.
On the basis of democratic centralism, all CPC members can discuss Party policies, offer advice and carry out intra-Party supervision.
"Democracy is in the genes of CPC members," said Mei Liming, deputy head of the China Executive Leadership Academy of Jinggangshan.
Mei also pointed to the CPC's revolutionary history in the Jinggangshan era when ranks of overseas Chinese were drawn back to China by the Party's democratic practices.
His words were echoed by Professor Liu Dongchao, with the Chinese Academy of Governance, "Only by promoting intra-Party democracy and by motivating all Party members can the CPC continue to correct its own mistakes, consolidate its unity and inject more life into the democratic political system with Chinese characteristics."
