A grand rally to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China(CPC) opened in Beijing at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning.

The CPC will also summarize its educational campaign on maintaining the vanguard character of CPC members, launched in January of 2005, at the rally.

All the nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee attended the rally.

Hu Jintao, who is General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese President and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, will deliver a speech at the rally.

China National Radio, China Central Television and China Radio International are carrying out live broadcast of the rally.

Two major news websites, xinhuanet.com and people.com.cn, are also carrying out real-time webcast of the event.

Editor: Yan