Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China

Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China
中共中央宣传部

Abbreviation	Zhongxuanbu (中宣部)
Formation	1921
Type	Department directly reporting to the Central Committee
Headquarters	Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing
Location	Beijing
Head	Liu Qibao
Executive deputy head	Huang Kunming*
Deputy heads	Nie Chenxi*, Lu Wei*, Jiang Jianguo*, Sun Zhijun, Wang Xiaohui, Wang Shiming, Cui Yuying, Jing Junhai, Tuo Zhen
Secretary-General	Guan Jinghui
Parent organization	Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
*Maintains full minister-level rank

The Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, or CCPPD, is an internal division of the Communist Party of China in charge of ideology-related work, as well as its information dissemination system. It is not formally considered to be part of the Government of the People's Republic of China, but enforces media censorship and control in China.

It was founded in May 1924, and was suspended during the Cultural Revolution, until it was restored in October 1977. It is an important organ in China's propaganda system, and its inner operations are highly secretive. Its current head is Liu Qibao.

The CCPPD has several Chinese names with various different English translations, it is officially the Zhōngguó Gòngchăndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Xuānchuánbù "Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Propaganda Department" or Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Xuānchuánbù "Chinese Communist Party Central Propaganda Department" or "Central Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China", colloquially abbreviated as the Zhōnggòng Xuānchuánbù "Chinese Communist Party Propaganda Department" or "Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China", or simply Zhōng xuānbù 中宣部.

The term xuanchuan (宣传 "propaganda; publicity") can have either a neutral connotation in official government contexts or a pejorative connotation in informal contexts. Some xuanchuan collocations usually refer to "propaganda" (e.g., xuānchuánzhàn 宣传战 "propaganda war"), others to "publicity" (xuānchuán méijiè 宣传媒介 "mass media; means of publicity"), and still others are ambiguous (xuānchuányuán 宣传员 "propagandist; publicist").

The Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Xuānchuán Bù changed its official English name from Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China to "Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China". As China’s involvement in world affairs grew in the 1990s, the CCP became sensitive to the negative connotations of the English translation propaganda for xuanchuan. Official replacement translations include publicity, information, and political communication When Ding Guan'gen traveled abroad on official visits, he was known as the Minister of Information.