The documentary Petition highlighted the central problem facing the CCP. The problem is that the CCP is slowly losing the people. It can be argued that since the CCP has based its legitimacy mainly on economic development, it has turned a blind eye to the very real problems of systemic corruption, bureaucratic incompetence, lack of accountability and mistreatment of the people. Throughout the documentary there were countless tales of the Chinese government not only ruining lives, but ending them. The fact that the problems in the Chinese system directly ruined the lives of the petitioners is one that should give the CCP pause. While the CCP doesn’t practice traditional communist ideology, the reality is that a good portion of it’s legitimacy is derived from the people. In particular, the CCP needs the people to believe that the National People’s Congress and the People’s Republic of China is just that. In other words, it needs the people to believe that the state and the party belong and are accountable to them. The incompetence of the Petition Offices and the astonishing level of corruption at all levels of government, serves to de-legitimize the CCP and the state as belonging to the people. This is seen in how near the end of the documentary the petitioners are seen denouncing the CCP in song. If the story of the petitioners spreads and their numbers grow, it could lead to the fall of the CCP as it would become part of the dynastic cycle.