Today the Communist Party of China is celebrating the 93th anniversary of its founding. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee said there were 86.69 million members at the end of 2013, up 1.8 percent year on year.

The growth rate was 1.3 percent lower from the previous year.

The slight drop came as the Party implemented its "balanced and prudent" policies that were published in late May, which detailed new recruiting rules.

Stricter recruitment standards have been put in force at the CPC’s initiative to improve quality and streamline the structure.

Meanwhile, grassroots Party branches totalled 4.3 million across the country, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier.