The internal organization of local government in China

This chapter reviews and discusses the research findings on the internal organization of the Chinese governments in the last two decades, drawing on Chinese-language literature. We first review those studies that focus on the recent reforms of the structures and functions within Chinese government. We then turn to the literature on the cross-level and inter-office relationships and coordination mechanisms among governmental offices, including such the topics as the “tiao–kuai” relationships, the administrative subcontract model (xingzheng fabao zhi), the earmarked project model (xiangmu zhi), and the Leadership group phenomenon (ligndao xiaozu). The chapter then introduces those studies that examine the size, type, and distribution of personnel in local governments, in which the “bianzhi” system - those rules and institutions in regulating the positions, ranks and offices in the Chinese government system - plays an important role. The chapter concludes with some observations on information flows within the governmental bureaucracy, especially the politics of written documents.