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The Orders of precedence in 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.
Individuals can hold multiple top leadership titles but also be unable to claim to be the de facto ruler as was the case with Chairman 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.
The Order of Precedence has gradually become normalized as the institutions of the Communist Party and the People's Republic became more established and stable. Internal publications and official media adhere to strict ranking protocol when reporting news items or public announcements that involve multiple leaders. Similarly, the order is strictly adhered to when seating leaders at official meetings and functions.
Often, state media news programs, such as Xinwen Lianbo, overlook the actual importance of the story attached to each leader. Rather the news order is determined by political ranking alone. For instance, if a higher-ranked leader is chairing a routine meeting, while a lower-ranked leader is visiting an earthquake disaster zone, the routine meeting will take precedence over the disaster in the order that they are reported.
Protocol ordering of leaders is perhaps most visible at large gatherings of party and state leaders, such as Party Congresses, National People's Congresses, the funeral or memorial service of former leaders, or major anniversary celebrations.
The current order of precedence applies to party, state, and military leaders. It generally follows an order set out by the institutions to which these leaders belong; further ranking of individual leaders are applied within each of the institutions. Where an individual belongs to numerous party and state institutions, they are usually only mentioned on first instance for their highest-ranking post.
The organs of the party, state, and military, have a generally applied rank order, as follows:
Central Military Commission leaders who do not otherwise belong to any higher ranked institutions are not considered "leaders of the Party and State", and generally listed separately by protocol.
The Politburo Standing Committee, colloquially called the Zhengzhiju Changwei in Chinese, is the apex of political power in China. Its members are strictly ranked. The rankings are determined by perceived political power, personal prestige, or by the ordering of the offices they hold.
The General Secretary of the Communist Party (before 1983, the Chairman of the Party) is always ranked first, despite the fact that some General Secretaries were not the pre-eminent political leaders. For example, General Secretaries Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang (both ranked first) were, in practice, subordinate to "paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping, who was ranked behind them in protocol. Between 1997 and 2012, the Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), the head of the national legislature, has always been ranked second. During the same period, the Premier, as head of government, was ranked third. The Chair of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is ranked fourth. However, in 2013, this ordering changed. The Premier, Li Keqiang, was ranked 2nd, immediately after the General Secretary, and in front of the NPC Chairman Zhang Dejiang.
The President is a largely ceremonial post. Since 1993, the offices of President and the General Secretary have been held by the same person, thus the President has since then been ranked first. Prior to 1993, the President and the General Secretary were not the same people. At the time, President Yang Shangkun, who was not a Standing Committee member, was ranked behind the members of the Standing Committee, but President Li Xiannian, being a member of the Standing Committee, was ranked third, behind the General Secretary and the Premier.
The current ranking of the Politburo Standing Committee is as follows:
For its early history, the Politburo was theoretically a "leadership collective", with equal status accorded to each of its members. In practice, the Politburo Standing Committee members have elevated status within the body and are considered its most important and powerful members. When a new Politburo member list is first announced, or when the Politburo membership is being reported independently of other bodies, it is ordered by the "the number of strokes in the surname character", a traditional method of 'alphabetization' of Chinese names. Unlike the PSC, it is not ordered based on presumed level of power. When it comes to seating protocol and official announcements about the Politburo in conjunction with other party and state bodies, the Politburo Standing Committee members are announced first, before the rest of the Politburo members. The Politburo members who are not part of the Standing Committee are arranged by order of surname strokes, not by the level of presumed political power.
Immediately following the 16th Party Congress, Jiang Zemin was ranked 2nd overall on the leadership protocol hierarchy, immediately after Hu Jintao. At the conclusion of the 18th Party Congress, when Hu Jintao retired as General Secretary, Jiang was ranked 2nd overall, after Xi Jinping, and Hu Jintao was ranked 3rd, after Jiang. Since 2013, judging mostly based on the official obituary notices of various deceased party officials, Jiang and Hu seemed to have progressively moved "lower" on the protocol strata, first below all current members of the Politburo Standing Committee, and as of 2014, behind all members of the Politburo.[2] At the National Day banquet held on September 30, 2014, both Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao were seated next to Xi Jinping, which seemed to have implied that they took precedence over the other members of the Politburo Standing Committee; however, sequence by which the names were displayed in official news bulletins continued to place the entire Politburo before Jiang, Hu, and other retired leaders.[3]
Ranking based on official order at the 65th Anniversary Banquet of the founding of the People's Republic of China held on September 30, 2014
In the following order:
Within the People's Republic of China, there is a statutory "National Civil Service Rankings System" to determine ranking of officials below the minister-level, stretching from the very important positions (Provincial Party Secretaries, for instance) to the lowest positions (for example, someone who is responsible for a township office). Their relative ranking determines their annual salary, living stipends, entitlement to official residences and vehicles, pensions, benefits, and so forth. Provincial leaders do not enjoy an elevated protocol rank in their own province of jurisdiction. Rather they must still be placed behind all national leaders listed above.
In provincial, municipal, and other local-level protocol rankings, the four main institutions generally follow the ranking of:
In provincial Party Committees, the ranking is relatively random depending on the province, municipality or Autonomous Region. For example, in 2014, the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee followed this ranking:
In contrast, Guangdong Province Party Committee followed this ranking:
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 above cabinet ministers, all else being equal, reflecting the Party's "vanguard" status. Thus, for example, the head of the Party's International Department (中联部) is treated having a higher rank than the minister for Foreign Affairs (外交部). This rank is mostly for official protocol, but the privileges of the party departments heads are the same as cabinet ministers.[4]
People's Liberation Army, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, Politburo of the Communist Party of China, State Council of the People's Republic of China
Xi Jinping, National People's Congress, Mao Zedong, Communist Party of China, State Council of the People's Republic of China
Tokyo, United Kingdom, China, Shanghai, Hong Kong
Deng Xiaoping, Hubei, President of the People's Republic of China, Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong
Communist Party of China, Deng Xiaoping, Cultural Revolution, Zhao Ziyang, Shaanxi
Deng Xiaoping, Communist Party of China, Guangdong, Li Peng, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Politburo of the Communist Party of China, State Council of the People's Republic of China
Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China