Government of the People's Republic of China

Government of the
People's Republic of China
中华人民共和国政府
Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhèngfǔ

Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Formation	1 October 1949
Jurisdiction	Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and small South China Sea islets
Website	english.gov.cn
Legislative branch
Legislature	National People's Congress
Meeting place	Great Hall of the People
Executive branch
Leader	President of the People's Republic of China
Headquarters	Zhongnanhai
Main organ	State Council
Judicial branch
Court	Supreme People's Court
Seat	Beijing

The Government of the People's Republic of China is divided among several bodies:

The legal power of the Communist Party is guaranteed by the PRC constitution and its position as the supreme political authority in the PRC is realised through its comprehensive control of the state, military, and media. According to a prominent government spokesman:

We will never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation; although China’s state organs have different responsibilities, they all adhere to the line, principles and policies of the party.

The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the President, and the State Council. Members of the State Council include the Premier, a variable number of Vice Premiers (now four), five State Councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State Council commissions. During the 1980s there was an attempt made to separate party and state functions, with the party deciding general policy and the state carrying it out. The attempt was abandoned in the 1990s with the result that the political leadership within the state are also the leaders of the party. This dual structure thereby creates a single centralized focus of power.

At the same time there has been a move to separate party and state offices at levels other than the central government. It is not unheard of for a sub-national executive to also be party secretary. This frequently causes conflict between the chief executive and the party secretary, and this conflict is widely seen as intentional to prevent either from becoming too powerful. Some special cases are the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau where the Mainland Chinese national laws do not apply at all and the autonomous regions where, following Soviet practice, the chief executive is typically a member of the local ethnic group while the party general secretary is non-local and usually Han Chinese.