Chinaportal |
This is a list of leaders of the People's Republic of China's Government institutions. Each institution of China is headed by a chairperson or secretary, with some being more prominent than others. The paramount leader holds the highest authority of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party | ||||
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Institution | CCP Central Committee | The General Secretary is the highest-ranking official within the Chinese Communist Party, a standing member of the Politburo and head of the Secretariat. Post holders are usually the de facto leaders of the People's Republic of China. Currently, the General Secretary holds the authority of Paramount leader in China. Because China is a single-party state, the General Secretary holds the highest political position in the PRC and thus constitutes the most powerful position in China's government. | ||
Current holder | Xi Jinping | |||
Birthplace | Beijing | |||
Constituency | Guangxi at-large | |||
Since | 15 November 2012 | |||
President of the People's Republic of China | ||||
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Institution | Presidency | The President is legally China's head of state; he is responsible for China's image. The office is largely ceremonial, so the president cannot intervene directly in matters of the State Council. He, therefore, holds minor responsibilities such as greeting foreign dignitaries and signing the appointment of embassy staff. This position can be held whilst holding others. | ||
Current holder | Xi Jinping | |||
Birthplace | Beijing, China | |||
Constituency | Jiangsu at-large | |||
Since | 14 March 2013 | |||
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China | ||||
Institution | State Council | The Premier is the highest administrative position in the Government of the People's Republic of China. The Premier is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. This includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies and announcing their candidacies to the National People's Congress for Vice Premiers, State Councillors and ministry offices. | ||
Current holder | Li Qiang | |||
Birthplace | Rui'an, Zhejiang | |||
Constituency | Yunnan at-large | |||
Since | 11 March 2023 | |||
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | ||||
Institution | NPC | The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress presides over the plenary of Congress. The Chairman also chairs the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress as well as representing the speaker of Congress. | ||
Current holder | Zhao Leji | |||
Birthplace | Xining, Qinghai | |||
Constituency | Sichuan at-large | |||
Since | 10 March 2023 | |||
Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference | ||||
Institution | CPPCC | The Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference oversees the Conference. In practice, its role and powers are somewhat analogous to a speaker of a legislative upper house, and there have been occasional proposals to formalize this role in the PRC Constitution. | ||
Current holder | Wang Huning | |||
Birthplace | Shanghai | |||
Constituency | Guizhou at-large | |||
Since | 10 March 2023 | |||
Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China | ||||
Institution | PLA | The Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China directs the armed forces of the country according to the Constitution. | ||
Current holder | Xi Jinping | |||
Birthplace | Beijing, China | |||
Constituency | Jiangsu At-large | |||
Since | 14 March 2013 | |||
President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China | ||||
Institution | SPC | The President of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China oversees the highest court in the mainland area of the People's Republic of China, not including Hong Kong or Macau. | ||
Current holder | Zhang Jun | |||
Birthplace | Boxing County, Shandong | |||
Constituency | Hebei at-large | |||
Since | 11 March 2023 | |||
Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China | ||||
Institution | Supreme People's Procuratorate | The Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China oversee the highest agency at the national level responsible for both prosecution and investigation in the People's Republic of China. | ||
Current holder | Ying Yong | |||
Birthplace | Xianju County, Zhejiang | |||
Constituency | Anhui at-large | |||
Since | 11 March 2023 | |||
Director of the National Supervisory Commission of the People's Republic of China | ||||
Institution | National Supervisory Commission | The Director of the National Supervisory Commission of the People's Republic of China oversee the highest agency at the national level responsible for supervision and anti-corruption | ||
Current holder | Liu Jinguo | |||
Birthplace | Changli County, Hebei | |||
Constituency | Ningxia at-large | |||
Since | 11 March 2023 |
Vice President of the People's Republic of China | ||||
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Institution | Presidency | The Vice President's duties include assisting the President and replacing him should he resign or die in office. In reality, the position of the Vice President is basically ceremonial, and only until Hu Jintao, recent vice presidents have been members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China's main decision makers. | ||
Current holder | Han Zheng | |||
Birthplace | Shanghai | |||
Constituency | Shandong at-large | |||
Since | 10 March 2023 | |||
Vice Premiers of the People's Republic of China | ||||
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Portrait | Information | Posts | ||
Rank | 1st | Member of the Politburo Standing Committee (6th Ranked) Development and reform, education, science and technology, finance, ecology and environment, statistics, and intellectual property | ||
Name | Ding Xuexiang | |||
Constituency | Liaoning At-large | |||
Birthplace | Nantong, Jiangsu | |||
Took office | 12 March 2023 | |||
Rank | 2nd | Member of the Politburo Public finance, natural resource management, housing and urban development, transportation, commerce | ||
Name | He Lifeng | |||
Constituency | Inner Mongolia At-large | |||
Birthplace | Xingning, Guangdong | |||
Took office | 12 March 2023 | |||
Rank | 3rd | Member of the Politburo Industry and information technology, emergency management, and state-owned enterprises | ||
Name | Zhang Guoqing | |||
Constituency | Tibet At-large | |||
Birthplace | Luoshan County, Henan | |||
Took office | 12 March 2023 | |||
Rank | 4th | Member of the Politburo Agriculture and rural affairs, health, poverty alleviation, and meteorology | ||
Name | Liu Guozhong | |||
Constituency | Henan At-large | |||
Birthplace | Wangkui County, Heilongjiang | |||
Took office | 12 March 2023 |
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang. In 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China and has had sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Successive leaders of the CCP have added their own theories to the party's constitution, which outlines the party's ideology, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2024, the CCP has more than 99 million members, making it the second largest political party by membership in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party.
In China, politics functions within a communist state framework based on the system of people's congress under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the National People's Congress (NPC) functioning as the highest organ of state power and only branch of government per the principle of unified power. The CCP leads state activities by holding two-thirds of the seats in the NPC, and these party members are, in accordance with democratic centralism, responsible for implementing the policies adopted by the CCP Central Committee and the National Congress. The NPC has unlimited state power bar the limitations it sets on itself. By controlling the NPC, the CCP has complete state power. China's two special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau, are nominally autonomous from this system.
The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
The premier of China, officially titled the premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of China and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the end of the Qing dynasty, but the current post dates to 1954, five years after the establishment of the PRC. The premier is the second-highest ranking person in China's political system after the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party /president, and holds the highest rank in the civil service of the central government.
The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest military leadership body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia of China.
The orders of precedence in China is the ranking of political leaders in China for the purposes of event protocol and to arrange the ordering of names in official news bulletins, both written and televised. It is also sometimes used to assess perceived level of political power. Although there is no formally published ranking, there is usually an established convention and protocol, and the relative positions of Chinese political figures can usually be deduced from the order in meetings and especially by the time and order in which figures are covered by the official media. Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party has been the highest-ranking official in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Paramount leader is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often holding the titles of CCP General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC). The state representative, head of state (president) or head of government (premier) are not necessarily paramount leader—under China's party-state system, CCP roles are politically more important than state titles.
Generations of Chinese leadership is a term historians use to characterize distinct periods of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and, by extension, successive changes in the ideology of the CCP. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by reference to these "generations".
These are lists of political office-holders in East Germany. The political leadership of East Germany was distributed between several offices. However, until the Volkskammer removed a section in the GDR's constitution guaranteeing their monopoly on political power on 1 December 1989, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) held ultimate power and authority over state and government. Thus, the head of the SED's Politburo of the Central Committee was the de facto leader of the country.
The civil service of the People's Republic of China is the administrative system of the traditional Chinese government which consists of all levels who run the day-to-day affairs in China. The members of the civil service are selected through competitive examination.
A titular ruler, or titular head, is a person in an official position of leadership who possesses few, if any, actual powers. Sometimes a person may inhabit a position of titular leadership and yet exercise more power than would normally be expected, as a result of their personality or experience. A titular ruler is not confined to political leadership but can also reference any organization, such as a corporation.
The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's congresses. This system is based on the principle of unified state power, in which the legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), is constitutionally enshrined as "the highest state organ of power." As China's political system has no separation of powers, there is only one branch of government which is represented by the legislature. The CCP through the NPC enacts unified leadership, which requires that all state organs, from the Supreme People's Court to the President of China, are elected by, answerable to, and have no separate powers than those granted to them by the NPC. By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in all state bodies through a two-thirds majority in the NPC. The remaining seats are held by nominally independent delegates and eight minor political parties, which are non-oppositional and support the CCP. All government bodies and state-owned enterprises have internal CCP committees that lead the decision-making in these institutions.
The leader of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is the highest-ranking official and head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Central Committee is considered the party's leader. Since its formation in 1921, the leader's post has been titled as Secretary of the Central Bureau (1921–1922), Chairman, and General Secretary.
A Party Committee Secretary is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the de facto highest political office of its area of jurisdiction. The term can also be used for the leadership position of CCP organizations in state-owned enterprises, private companies, foreign-owned companies, universities, research institutes, hospitals, as well as other institutions of the state.
The succession of power in China since 1949 takes place in the context of a one-party state under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite the guarantee of universal franchise in the constitution, the appointment of the Paramount leader lies largely in the hands of his predecessor and the powerful factions that control the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
The General Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China is an administrative agency of the State Council which assists the leaders with the day to day administrative operations of the Chinese government. It is also known as State Council General Office (国务院办公厅) or "State Office" (国办).
In communist and socialist theory, collective leadership is a shared distribution of power within an organizational structure.
The president of China, officially titled the president of the People's Republic of China, is the state representative of the People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. While the office has many of the characteristics of a head of state, the Chinese constitution does not define it as such. However, since 1993, the post has been held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is China's de facto leader.