The People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949 by the Communist Party as a unitary nation of numerous ethnic groups. The present state structure of China is based on the Constitution of the PRC, the law on regional autonomy of ethnic minorities and the basic laws on the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao. The country is divided into 23 provinces (including Taiwan), 5 ethnic autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi Zhuang, Tibet, Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur), 2 special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macao) and 4 directly ruled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) under the central government. The provinces and autonomous regions are in turn divided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties and cities, and those in turn are divided into the lowest tier of townships, ethnic minority townships and towns. Some sub-provincial divisions between the levels of provinces and prefectures have also been introduced following the commencement of economic liberalisation in 1978. These include the four special economic zones of Shenzen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen.
China has a total of 56 ethnic groups, with the Han being the largest group accounting for around 90 per cent of the population. The country has established 155 ethnic autonomous areas, including 5 provincial level autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties. Forty-four among the 55 minority ethnic groups in China have their autonomous areas, which account for 64 per cent of China's land territory and 71 per cent of the total ethnic minority population.
SYSTEM OF ELECTIONS: The characteristic of the election system in China is universality, equality, secret ballot as well as a combination of direct and indirect voting. The electoral law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses was revised in July 1979, whereby the practice of direct election was extended up to the counties and autonomous counties. This law provided for the first time competitive election of deputies to the people's congresses. Three other major amendments were brought to the law in 1982, 1986 and 1995, which simplified the registration of voters, narrowed the gap between the rural and urban areas with respect to linking the representation by deputies to the size of represented population, determined the number of deputies to the local people's congresses and encouraged voters to jointly nominate candidates. The Chinese prefer to call this as a democratic election system with Chinese characteristics.
LEGISLATURE: The people's congresses in China include the National People's Congress as well as local people's congresses at various levels. The National people's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power and the local people's congresses are organs of state power at the corresponding level. Their tenures are of five years. There are 35 delegations of deputies to the NPC representing 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 directly ruled municipalities, 2 special administrative regions, and the People's Liberation Army. The number of deputies to NPC has not been more than 3,000 since the Sixth NPC, with the deputies divided among the localities according to population size. The people's congresses meet in sessions once a year, but a session may be convened when more than one-fifth deputies at the corresponding level decide to convene it.
STATE PRESIDENCY: The President is the head of state of the People's Republic of China. This system of state presidency is an important part of the Chinese political system. The Constitutional amendment adopted in 1982 stipulates the election, terms, functions and powers of the president. The President and Vice-President are elected by the NPC and they can serve for a maximum two consecutive terms (10 years). The Presidency is the highest organ of state power. The President promulgates the statutes and major decisions taken by the NPC or its Standing Committees.
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: The administrative system in China consists of the state council and the local governments at different levels. The state council consists of the Premier, the Vice-Premier, State Councillors, Ministers in-charge of ministries and commissions, the Auditor General and the Secretary General. The Governor of the People's Bank of China is also considered to be a member of the State Council. Apart from the general office, there are 27 departments under the State Council. The seven ministries related to the economic arena are: commerce, housing and urban-rural development, railways, transport, industry and information technology, water resources and agriculture. Other ministries include: education; science and technology; human resources and social security; land and resources; environmental protection; culture; health; foreign affairs; national defence; public security; state security; supervision; civil affairs, justice; state commission for health and family planning; state commission of ethnic affairs; state-owned assets supervision and administration commission; and the national audit office.
CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM: Civil servants are divided into two categories in China in accordance with the Civil Servant Law and relevant provisions of other laws and regulations. These functionaries in different organs of state administration are of two categories: political civil servants or leading officials in state administration; and career civil servants or staff members of state administration. The former are elected or appointed by the people's congresses or their standing committees and serve for limited terms in office. The career civil servants, on the other hand, carry out day to day routine work and implement state laws and policies. They are recruited through examinations and serve as permanent employees of the PRC.
Since the 1980s and especially since 1993, the government of China has taken major steps to reform the civil service system. An estimated 70 million people were employed in the public sector in 2002, about half of whom worked in the government in one capacity or another. The number of public employees declined in recent years mainly due to the shrinking of state-owned enterprise sector. However, employment in government-owned public service units, in sectors like education, public health, research etc., has remained steady over the years and showed an increasing trend from 25 million in 2002 to over 28 million in 2003. Among those employed by government departments and bodies, only 4.98 million were formally classified as civil servants in 2004 by China's civil service regulations. The Communist Party plays an extensive part in the management of all state personnel, including the civil service. One of the 7-member Standing Committee of the Politburo, the highest seat of political power in China, is responsible for overseeing 'organisation and personnel work' that includes management of the civil service. The Communist Party of China (CPC) entrusts the job of policy making for the civil service to its 'Organisation Department'. The State Council's Ministry of Human Resources implements civil service policies under the supervision of 'Organisation Department'. Therefore two bodies - one belonging to the government and the other to the party - are tightly linked.
The Chinese civil service is organised into 12 positions or levels starting from the Premier at the top to clerical staffs at the bottom. There are currently 27 (previously 15) ranks or grades, which are determined by the level of responsibility, degree of difficulty of the tasks, the capability of civil servants, their political integrity, practical success, work performance and records. Most civil servants in China work in local governments in the country's around 2,800 counties. According to information available in 1998, only about 10 per cent of civil servants worked at the central level, 11 per cent at the provincial level, 21 per cent at the prefecture level, 41 per cent at county level, and 17 per cent at township level.
RECENT TRENDS IN GOVERNANCE REFORMS: Since its inception, the PRC government has revamped its administrative system more than 10 times. Reforms have been further speeded up recently with the goal of transforming government functions and improving administrative efficiency. Alongside modernising China's agriculture, industry, science & technology, and military, modernisation of the governance system and administrative capability have been promoted by the Chinese leaders in recent years as the fifth modernisation. Emphasis has been placed on accelerating China's administrative reform by building a law-based and service-oriented government. Demands have been made by the leadership for deepening administrative reforms, innovating administrative methods and enhancing the credibility and execution of the government. The rule of law-including building a government ruled by law-is likely to define the direction of administrative reforms even further, as some new trends in China's administrative reforms clearly show: streamlining of governmental administrative approval processes, curtailing the excessive administrative powers, promoting plural governance, and strengthening the administrative litigation system.
Baogang Guo (2014) of the Singapore-based China Research Centre nicely sums up the current scenario: "China's administrative reform is clearly moving in the right direction. With a leaner and more efficient government, a reduction in governmental regulatory powers, a new plural governance structure, and law-based administrative system, China is in a better position to manage an increasingly more complex society. By pursuing a strategy of good governance, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has managed to consolidate its political legitimacy".
Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a retired Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration and former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly, currently in Beijing on a Confucius Institute Fellowship. hahmed1960@gmail.com
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