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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.

Contents

Party and State leaders

Order of Precedence

Former leaders

Vice-Premiers

State Councilors

Provincial party secretaries/Governors

Chief Executives of the Special Administrative Regions

Rankings below the National Leadership

See also

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:

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

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:

★ '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

★ 'Huang Ju', Executive Vice-Premier (deceased)

★ 'Wu Guanzheng', Head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

★ 'Li Changchun', Media and Communications head

★ 'Luo Gan', Political and Legislative Affairs Committee secretary

★ Other Members of the CCP Politburo (In order of surname strokes)

★
★ Wang Lequan, Party chief of Xinjiang Autonomous Region

★
★ Wang Zhaoguo, Vice-Chairman of NPC

★
★ 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

★
★ Wu Yi, Vice-Premier

★
★ Zhang Lichang, Party chief of Tianjin

★
★ Zhang Dejiang, Party chief of Guangdong

★
★ Xi Jinping, Party chief of Shanghai

★
★ Zhou Yongkang, Head of the Ministry of Public Security

★
★ Yu Zhengsheng, Party chief of Hubei

★
★ He Guoqiang, CPC Organization department head

★
★ Guo Boxiong, Executive Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission

★
★ Cao Gangchuan, Minister of Defence, Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission

★
★ Zeng Peiyan, Vice-Premier

★
★ Wang Gang (Alternate Member)

Former leaders

(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

★
★ Liu Huaqing

★
★ Wei Jianxing

★
★ Li Lanqing

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 (Xu Caihou, He Yong)

★ Vice-Chairmen of the National People's Congress (In following order)

★
★ Wang Zhaoguo (already mentioned)

★
★ Li Tieying

★
★ Ismail Himaldi

★
★ He Luli

★
★ Ding Shisun

★
★ Cheng Siwei

★
★ Xu Jialu

★
★ Jiang Zhenghua

★
★ Gu Xiulian

★
★ Rädi

★
★ Sheng Huaren

★
★ Lu Yongxiang

★
★ Uyunqimg

★
★ Han Qide

★
★ Bo Tieshan

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

★
★ Bajin

★
★ Pabra Grimlge

★
★ Li Guixian

★
★ Zhang Siqing

★
★ Ding Guangxun

★
★ Henry Fok (deceased)

★
★ Ma Wanqi

★
★ Bai Lizhen

★
★ Luo Haocai

★
★ Zhang Kehui

★
★ Zhou Tienong

★
★ Hao Jianxiu

★
★ Chen Kuiyuan

★
★ Abrati Abdruashti

★
★ 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

Ministers===

★ 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

★
★ State Ethnic Affairs Commission Li Dek Su

★
★ Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang

★
★ Minister of State Security Xu Yongyue

★
★ Minister of Supervision Li Zhilun

★
★ Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju

★
★ Minister of Justice (Supreme People's Procuratorate) Jia Chunwang

★
★ Minister of Finance Jin Renqing

★
★ Minister of Personnel Zhang Bolin

★
★ Minister of Labor and Social Security Zheng Silin

★
★ Minister of Land and Resources Sun Wensheng

★
★ 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 Wang Shucheng

★
★ Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin

★
★ Minister of Commerce (Bo Xilai)

★
★ Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng

★
★ Minister of Health Gao Qiang

★
★ State Population and Family Planning Commission

★
★ Governor of the People's Bank of China

★
★ National Audit Office (Auditor General) Li Jinhua

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 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

Chief Executives of the Special Administrative Regions

★
★ 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).

See also

★ Politics of the People's Republic of China

★ Generations of Chinese leadership