The Fifteenth Central Committee of the Chinese communist party: full-fledged technocratic leadership with partial control by Jiang Zemin

Asian Survey

Volumn 38, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 231-264

  Cheng, Li ^a   White, Lynn ^b,c  

^a HAMILTON COLLEGE   (United States)

^b PRINCETON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

LEADERSHIP; NATIONAL POLITICS; POLITICAL SYSTEM; TECHNOCRATS;

CHINA;

EID: 0005820453     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2645427     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. David Bachman, "Succession, Consolidation, and Transition in China's Future," Journal of Northeast Asian Studies 15:1 (Spring 1996), p. 93.
2. Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Thirteenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party," pp. 371-99; and Richard Baum, Burying Mao: Chinese Politics in the Age of Deng Xiaoping (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994) p. 365.
3. Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Thirteenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party," pp. 371-99; and Richard Baum, Burying Mao: Chinese Politics in the Age of Deng Xiaoping (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994) p. 365.
4. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
5. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
6. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
7. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
8. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
9. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
10. See Zhongguo renming da cidian [Who's who in China], Liao Gailong and Fan Yuan, vol. 3 (Shanghai: Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 1989), and Zhongguo renwu nianjian [Personnel yearbook of China] Li Fangshi et al. (Beijing: Huayi chubanshe, 1989-). Biographical data come mainly from Renmin ribao [People's daily]; China Directory; China News Analysis; Guangjiaojing [Wide angle], and Zhonggong yanjiu [Studies of Chinese communism].
11. No equivalent term in Chinese was used before jishu guanliao, but guanliao usually has a negative connotation. The term jishu ganbu (technical cadre) mainly refers to engineers and technicians, because people who have reached the tertiary level of education in the PRC are considered to be ganbu (cadres). A majority of ganbu do not hold leadership positions. So a more appropriate term increasingly used in China, is jishu guanliao or jishu wenguan, with neutral connotations.
12. See Hong Yung Lee, From Revolutionary Cadres to Party Technocrats: The Changing Cadre System in Socialist China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), p. 407.
13. Zang Xiaowei, "The Fourteenth Central Committee of the CCP: Technocracy or Political Technocracy?" pp. 787-803; Zang Xiaowei, "Elite Formation and the Bureaucratic-Technocracy in Post-Mao China," Studies in Comparative Communism 24:1 (March 1991), pp. 114-23; and Richard Baum, Burying Mao, p. 381.
14. Zang Xiaowei, "The Fourteenth Central Committee of the CCP: Technocracy or Political Technocracy?" pp. 787-803; Zang Xiaowei, "Elite Formation and the Bureaucratic-Technocracy in Post-Mao China," Studies in Comparative Communism 24:1 (March 1991), pp. 114-23; and Richard Baum, Burying Mao, p. 381.
15. Zang Xiaowei, "The Fourteenth Central Committee of the CCP: Technocracy or Political Technocracy?" pp. 787-803; Zang Xiaowei, "Elite Formation and the Bureaucratic-Technocracy in Post-Mao China," Studies in Comparative Communism 24:1 (March 1991), pp. 114-23; and Richard Baum, Burying Mao, p. 381.
16. Robert Putnam, The Comparative Study of Political Elites (Englewood, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1976), p. 214.
17. Michla Pomerance uses these phrases to refer to the diversification of intellectuals. See "The Intellectual in American Politics: An Irreverent Look," in Religion, Ideology, and Nationalism in Europe and America, ed., The Historical Society of Israel (Jerusalem: Graph Chen Press Ltd., 1986), pp. 294, 297.
18. The main Chinese translation of "technocrat," jishu guanliao (bureaucrats with technical backgrounds), says this.
19. X. Drew Liu, "The Current Power Struggle in the Chinese Communist Party," China Strategic Review 2:4 (July/August 1997), p. 80.
20. New York Times, September 10, 1997, p. 3.
21. Ibid., September 19, 1997, p. 1.
22. Gao Xin, Jiang Zemin de muliao [Jiang Zemin's counselors], 4th ed. (Hong Kong: Mingjing chubanshe, 1997), pp. 204-05.
23. David Shambaugh, "China's Military in Transition: Politics, Professionalism, Procurement, and Power Projection." China Quarterly, no. 146 (June 1996), pp. 280-81.
24. China News Analysis, no. 1537, June 15, 1995, p. 4; and People's Daily, May 20, 1995, pp. 1-2; May 26, 1995, p. 1; May 30, 1995, p. 4; and May 31, 1995, p. 1.
25. China News Analysis, no. 1537, June 15, 1995, p. 4; and People's Daily, May 20, 1995, pp. 1-2; May 26, 1995, p. 1; May 30, 1995, p. 4; and May 31, 1995, p. 1.
26. Xinmin Evening News, September 22, 1997, p. 1.
27. During Jiang's recent visit to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Chinese students and visiting scholars hung a giant red banner that read: "M.I.T. Welcomes President Jiang - Chief Engineer of China." Carey Goldberg, "Dueling Demonstrations Greet Jiang in Rowdiest Showing Yet," New York Times, November 2, 1997, p. 14.
28. Qianshao yuekan [Advance guard monthly], October 1997, pp. 16-17.
29. Zhengming [Contend], October 1997, p. 9.
30. Ibid.
31. Renmin ribao, overseas ed., September 19, 1997, p. 2.
32. Ibid.
33. These considerations are partly based on an assumption that the 5.8% of the Fourteenth CC members and the 9% of Fifteenth CC members whose birthplaces are still unknown are distributed rather proportionally over the whole nation. Data that may become available later will allow refinements.
34. China News Analysis, no. 1588-89, July 1-15, 1997, p. 15.
35. Shijie ribao [World journal], September 22, 1997, p. 2.
36. Ibid., September 17, 1997, p. 2; and South China Morning Post, September 16, 1997, p. 1.
37. Ibid., September 17, 1997, p. 2; and South China Morning Post, September 16, 1997, p. 1.
38. Renmin ribao, overseas ed., September 11, 1992, p. 1; and Jiefang ribao, August 25, 1997, p. 1.
39. Renmin ribao, overseas ed., September 11, 1992, p. 1; and Jiefang ribao, August 25, 1997, p. 1.
40. Jiefang ribao, August 4, 1997, p. 1.
41. Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Army in the Succession to Deng Xiaoping," pp. 757-86.
42. Shu Zhan et al., "Guofang daxue, jiangjun de yaolan" [National Defense University: The cradle of generals], Zhonghua yingcai [China's talents], no. 171 (August 1997), pp. 40-42. Since its founding in 1985, the NDU has graduated a total of 5,000 military officers. They have occupied most important leadership positions in the PLA.
43. See Li and White, "The Thirteenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party" and "The Army in the Succession to Deng Xiaoping," passim, for many points and tables about technocrats' non-technocratic connections. Some readers report, in effect, that they neglected these data and the proffered interpretations of them.
44. For a full discussion on the Qinghua network under Jiang Nanxiang, see Cheng Li, "University Networks and the Rise of Qinghua Graduates in China's Leadership," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 32 (July 1994), pp. 1-32; for the data about the Qinghua people on the Fourteenth Central Committee, see Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Army in the Succession to Deng Xiaoping," pp. 782-84.
45. For a full discussion on the Qinghua network under Jiang Nanxiang, see Cheng Li, "University Networks and the Rise of Qinghua Graduates in China's Leadership," Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 32 (July 1994), pp. 1-32; for the data about the Qinghua people on the Fourteenth Central Committee, see Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Army in the Succession to Deng Xiaoping," pp. 782-84.
46. Gao Xin, Jiang Zemin de muliao, pp. 72-76.
47. Seweryn Bialer, Stalin's Successors: Leadership, Stability, and Change in the Soviet Union (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), pp. 117-27.
48. Gil Eyal, Ivan Szelenyi, and Eleanor Townsley, "The Theory of Post-Communist Managerialism," New Left Review, no. 222 (March/April 1997), pp. 61, 66.
49. Akos Rona-Tas, "The First Shall Be the Last: Entrepreneurship and Communist Cadres in the Transition from Socialism," American Journal of Sociology, 100:1 (July 1994), pp. 40-69.