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Political position ranking of the People's Republic of China
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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.
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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:
| Rank | Type 1 (Current Ranking) | Current Occupant | Type 2 | Type 3 | Type 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Secretary of the Party | Hu Jintao | General Secretary of the Party | General Secretary of the Party | General Secretary of the Party |
| 2 | President of the PRC | Hu Jintao | President of the PRC | Chairman of the NPC | President of the PRC |
| 3 | Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) | Hu Jintao | Chairman of the NPC | Chairman of the CMC | Chairman of the CMC |
| 4 | Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) | Wu Bangguo | Chairman of the NPC | Chairman of the NPC | Chairman of the NPC |
| 5 | Premier of the state council | Wen Jiabao | Premier of the state council | President of the PRC | President of the PRC |
| 6 | Chairman of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference | Jia Qinglin | Chairman of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference | Chairman of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference | Chairman of the Chinese People's Consultative Conference |
| 7 | Vice President of the PRC | Zeng Qinghong | Vice President of the PRC | Vice Premier of the PRC | Vice Premier of the PRC |
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):
- 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
- Zeng Qinghong, Vice-President
- Li Changchun, Media and Communications head
- Xi Jinping, CPC party chief of Shanghai
- Li Keqiang, party chief of Liaoning
- He Guoqiang, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
- Zhou Yongkang, Minister of Public Security
- In order of surname strokes
- Xi Jinping, Top ranked member of CPC Secretariat, in charge of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs
- Wang Gang, Central Work Department head
- Wang Lequan, Party chief of Xinjiang Autonomous Region
- Wang Zhaoguo, Vice-Chairman of National People's Congress
- Wang Qishan, no concurrent posts
- Hui Liangyu, Vice-Premier
- Liu Qi, Party chief of Beijing, head of Beijing Olympics organizing committee
- Liu Yunshan, Media and Communications minister, Secretary in CPC Central Secretariat
- Liu Yandong, Vice-Chair of CPPCC, United Front Head
- Li Changchun, propaganda chief
- Li Keqiang, no concurrent posts
- Li Yuanchao, CPC Organization Department head
- Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee
- Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong
- Zhang Gaoli, Party chief of Tianjin
- Zhang Dejiang, no concurent posts
- Zhou Yongkang, Head of the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee
- Hu Jintao, General Secretary, President, Central Military Commission Chairman
- Yu Zhengsheng, Party chief of Hubei
- He Guoqiang, Head of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
- Jia Qinglin, head of the People's Political Consultative Conference
- Xu Caihou, Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission
- Guo Boxiong, Executive Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission
- Wen Jiabao, Premier
- Bo Xilai, Minister of Commerce, Party chief of Chongqing
- in order of seniority at the time they were in office
- Former President Jiang Zemin (previously mentioned)
- Former NPC Chairmen 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
- Wu Guanzheng, Former head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
- Luo Gan, Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary
- Vice-Premiers：Wu Yi, Zeng Peiyan, Hui Liangyu (in order ranking, they are all Politburo members, hence this ranking only applies inside the State Council)
- Vice-Chairmen of the Central Military Commission (He Yong, Ling Jihua, Wang Huning)
- Vice-Chairmen of the National People's Congress (In following order)
- Wang Zhaoguo (already mentioned)
- Li Tieying
- Ismail Himaldi(Yugur)
- He Luli
- Ding Shisun
- Cheng Siwei
- Xu Jialu
- Jiang Zhenghua
- Gu Xiulian
- Rädi(Tibetan)
- Sheng Huaren
- Lu Yongxiang
- Uyunqimg(Mongolian)
- Han Qide
- Fu Tieshan (deceased)
- State Councilors: Zhou Yongkang, Cao Gangchuan (both previously mentioned), Tang Jiaxuan, Hua Jianmin, Chen Zhili (in order of rank)
- Chairman of the Supreme People's Court (Xiao Yang)
- Chairman of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (Jia Chunwang)
- Vice-chairpersons of the CPPCC (In following order)
- Wang Zhongyu
- Liao Hui
- Liu Yandong
- Apoi Awanghime(Tibetan)
- Ba Jin (deceased)
- Pabra Grimlge(Tibetan)
- Li Guixian
- Zhang Siqing
- Ding Guangxun
- Henry Fok (deceased)
- Ma Man-kei
- Bai Lizhen
- Luo Haocai
- Zhang Kehui
- Zhou Tienong
- Hao Jianxiu
- Chen Kuiyuan
- Abrati Abdruashti(Yugur)
- Xu Kuangdi
- Li Zhaochuo
- Huang Mengfu
- Wang Xuan (deceased)
- Zhang Huaixi
- Li Meng
- Tung Chee-hwa
- Zhang Meiying
- Zhang Rongming
- Members of the Central Military Commission
- Heads of Ministries and Government agencies under the State Council (in following order)
- Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi
- Minister of National Defense Cao Gangchuan earlier on list
- Chairman of the State Development and Reform Commission Ma Kai
- Minister of Education Zhou Ji
- Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang
- State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense Zhang Qingwei
- State Ethnic Affairs Commission Li Dezhu (Korean)
- Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang
- 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 vacant, likely to be 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 Wang Guangtao
- 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 Bo Xilai
- Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng
- Minister of Health Chen Zhu
- State Population and Family Planning Commission Zhang Weiqing
- Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan
- National Audit Office (Auditor General) Li Jinhua
- (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 Wang Qishan)
- Tianjin Municipality (Party Chief Zhang Gaoli [previously mentioned], Mayor Dai Xianglong)
- Hebei (Party Chief Bai Keming, Governor Guo Gengmao)
- Shanxi (Party Chief Zhang Baoshun, acting Governor Meng Xuenong)
- Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Party Chief Chu Bo, Chairman Yang Jing)
- Liaoning (Party Chief Li Keqiang, Governor Zhang Wenyue)
- Jilin
- Heilongjiang
- Shanghai Municipality
- Jiangsu
- Zhejiang
- Anhui
- Fujian
- Jiangxi
- Shandong
- Henan
- Hubei
- Hunan
- Guangdong (Party Chief Zhang Dejiang [previously mentioned], 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.
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).