Political position ranking of the People's Republic of China

The political ranking of the People's Republic of China is the ranking of political leaders in China, by order of presumed 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 which figures are covered by the official media.

Depending on the person and the time period, the hierarchy will vary accordingly. Although Chinese political positions are becoming increasingly institutionalized, part of the power of Chinese leaders still derives from who they are, rather than what position they hold. The informal role as Party "center" (formerly the position of paramount leader) is an example of the continuing importance of non-institutionalized and informal practices of power.

Individuals can hold multiple top leadership titles but also be unable to claim to be the de facto ruler as was the case with Hua Guofeng, when "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping was present. The traditional ranking system was based upon the hierarchical line of the politburo standing committee; however, "special" cases do arise as it is the case with Jiang Zemin and the 4th Generation leaders. Jiang, although retired from the politburo and the central committee, was nonetheless ranked number two for being the all powerful CMC chairman until his resignation on September 19, 2004.

Party and State leaders

By convention, persons holding positions of the Vice-Chairs of the NPC or above are referred to "Party and State leaders" (党和国家领导人) in the official media. A typical ranking is as follows:

Order of Precedence

Official state media, when reporting news pieces, adhere to strict ranking protocol when the news involves multiple top leaders. As a result, the news overlooks the actual importance of the story attached to each leader, rather the news order is determined by political ranking alone. For example, if the Premier was on a relief visit to a region damaged by an earthquake, and the Chairman of the National People's Congress happened to be chairing a regular NPC meeting, the NPC chair would always have his news item placed before that of the Premier. The order of precedence is strictly adhered to when seating leaders at official meetings and functions. The current order of precedence is as follows (bolded members of first section are current members of the Politburo Standing Committee):

Politburo Standing Committee and other prominent leaders

*Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission
*Jiang Zemin, former President, former Party General Secretary, and former Chairman of the CMC
*Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
*Wen Jiabao, Premier
*Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
*Li Changchun, Media and Communications head
*Xi Jinping, Vice-President
*Li Keqiang, Executive Vice-Premier
*He Guoqiang, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
*Zhou Yongkang, Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary

Other Members of the CCP Politburo

*"In order of surname strokes"

Former leaders

*"in order of seniority at the time they were in office"
**Former President Jiang Zemin (previously mentioned)
**Former NPC Chairmen Wan Li, Qiao Shi and Li Peng (in order of seniority)
**Former Premier Zhu Rongji
**Former NPC Chairman Li Ruihuan
**Song Ping
**Liu Huaqing
**Wei Jianxing, Former head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
**Li Lanqing, former Executive Vice-Premier
**Zeng Qinghong, former Vice-President
**Wu Guanzheng, Former head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
**Luo Gan, Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary

Members of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China

*Vice-Chairmen of the Central Military Commission
*Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee
**He Yong
**Ling Jihua
**Wang Huning

*Vice-Chairmen of the National People's Congress (In following order)
**Wang Zhaoguo (already mentioned)
**Lu Yongxiang
**Uyunqimg(Mongolian)
**Han Qide
**Hua Jianmin
**Chen Zhili
**Zhou Tienong
**Li Jianguo
**Ismail Tiliwaldi (Yugur)
**Jiang Shusheng
**Chen Changzhi
**Yan Junqi
**Sang Guowei

*State Councilors: Liu Yandong, Liang Guanglie, Ma Kai, Meng Jianzhu, Dai Bingguo (in order of rank)
*Chairman of the Supreme People's Court (Wang Shengjun)
*Chairman of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (Cao Jianming)
*Vice-chairpersons of the CPPCC (In following order)
**Wang Gang
**Liao Hui
**Du Qinglin
**Apoi Awanghime(Tibetan)
**Pabra Grimlge(Tibetan)
**Ma Man-kei
**Bai Lizhen
**Chen Kuiyuan
**Abrati Abdruashti(Yugur)
**Li Zhaochuo
**Huang Mengfu
**Tung Chee-hwa
**Zhang Meiying
**Zhang Rongming
**Qian Yunlu
**Sun Jiazheng
**Li Jinhua
**Zheng Wantong
**Deng Pufang
**Wan Gang
**Li Wenyi
**Luo Fuhe
**Chen Zhongxing
**Wang Zhizhen

*Members of the Central Military Commission
**Liang Guanglie
**Chen Bangde
**Li Jinai
**Liao Xilong
**Chang Wanquan
**Jing Zhiyuan
**Wu Shengli
**Xu Qiliang

*Heads of Ministries and Government agencies under the State Council (in following order)
**Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi
**Minister of National Defense Liang Guanglie "earlier on list"
**Chairman of the State Development and Reform Commission Zhang Ping
**Minister of Education Zhou Ji
**Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang
**State Ethnic Affairs Commission Yang Jing (Mongolian)
**Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu
**Ministry of State Security|Minister of State Security Geng Huichang
**Minister of Supervision Ma Wen
**Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju
**Minister of Justice (Supreme People's Procuratorate) Wu Aiying
**Minister of Finance Xie Xuren
**Minister of Personnel Yin Weimin
**Minister of Labor and Social Security Tian Chengping
**Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi
**Minister of Construction Jiang Weixin
**Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun
**Minister of Communications Li Shenglin
**Minister of Information Industry Wang Xudong
**Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei
**Minister of Agriculture Sun Zhengcai
**Minister of Commerce Chen Deming
**Minister of Culture Cai Wu
**Minister of Health Chen Zhu
**State Population and Family Planning Commission Li Bin
**Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan
**National Audit Office (Auditor General) Liu Jiayi

Provincial party secretaries/Governors

*"(Follows a traditional order for provinces; this order is the convention on all national and provincial maps)"
**Beijing Municipality (Party Chief Liu Qi ["previously mentioned"] , Mayor Guo Jinlong)
**Tianjin Municipality (Party Chief Zhang Gaoli ["previously mentioned"] , Mayor Huang Xingguo)
**Hebei (Party Chief Zhang Yunchuan, Governor Guo Gengmao)
**Shanxi (Party Chief Zhang Baoshun, Governor Meng Xuenong)
**Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Party Chief Chu Bo, Chairman Yang Jing)
**Liaoning (Party Chief Zhang Wenyue, Governor Chen Zhenggao)
**Jilin
**Heilongjiang
**Shanghai Municipality
**Jiangsu
**Zhejiang
**Anhui
**Fujian
**Jiangxi
**Shandong
**Henan
**Hubei
**Hunan
**Guangdong (Party Chief |Wang Yang , Governor Huang Huahua)
**Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
**Hainan
**Chongqing Municipality
**Sichuan
**Guizhou
**Yunnan
**Tibet Autonomous Region
**Shaanxi
**Gansu
**Qinghai
**Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
**Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
**The Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong (Chief Executive Donald Tsang)
**The Special Administrative Region of Macau (Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah)
**Representatives of Taiwan Province

All subsequent rankings follow the Chinese political ranking system.

Rankings below the National Leadership

Within the PRC, there is an established convention as to the ranking of officials below the central leadership. Unlike in the west, the Provincial leaders do not enjoy an elevated presence in their own province. Rather they must still be placed behind all national leaders listed above.

It should be noted that departmental heads of the Communist Party of China, and ministers of the State Council are both called "bùzhǎng" (部长; literally "Head of Department"), but the Party heads are ranked half a rank above cabinet ministers, reflecting the Party's "vanguard" status. Thus, for example, the head of the Party's International Liaison Department (中联部) is treated as half a rank above the minister for Foreign Affairs (外交部).

ee also

*Politics of the People's Republic of China
*Generations of Chinese leadership