meritocracy in china: reinvention of historical legacy dr. chu songyan professor, chinese academy of...
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Meritocracy in China: Reinvention Meritocracy in China: Reinvention of Historical Legacyof Historical Legacy
Dr. CHU SongyanDr. CHU Songyan
Professor, Chinese Academy of GovernanceProfessor, Chinese Academy of Governance
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Content
• Meritocracy in history: Empire management
dimension
• Meritocracy reinvented: Public interest
dimension
2
Meritocracy: from complementary to dominant
• Han dynasty began to explore meritocracy based on examination being the
supplement to the hereditary system from Emperor Wen (179—157BC ) .
——Confucianism intelligence overwhelmed military talent to be the benchmark of
meritocracy.
——Therefore echoed the idea of Confucius “Those who govern should do so because
of merit, not of inherited status.”
——Two tracks: hereditary nobility
meritocracy: moral excellence confirmed by the emperor after
examination
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Meritocracy: from complementary to dominant
• The later Nine-rank system (220-587) priorities: family nobility, morality,
intelligence.
• The Tang Dynasty (618-907) created the imperial examinations and
bureaucracies began to open to those who passed tests extensively,
which also made the competition between meritocratic families and
aristocratic clans bitter.
• From the Song Dynasty(960-1279) to 1905, bureaucracies opened only
to those who passed well designed regular imperial examinations,
meritocracy began to be dominant in selection and promotion.
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Meritocracy: from complementary to dominant
• History shows that meritocracy played important role in empire
management with the emperor being the master of the country.
• Dynasties and emperors attaching importance to meritocracy based
on fair examination enjoyed prosperity.
• Meritocracy examination supported by the social strata related to
professions classified by the emperor’s government under
Confucianism : Shi (scholars), Nong (peasants), Gong (Workers)
and Shang (businessmen)
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Republican country without emperor any more
• Meritocracy legacy: ideas and concepts rooted deep in Chinese
culture for more than 2000 years.
• College education once played the role of meritocracy until 1993.
• China National School of Administration (now CAG) was established
in 1994.
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Simplifying the government is revolution, while selecting virtuous and capable talents is revolution
too.Jan. 13, 1982
Provisional Regulation of Civil Service
1993-2005
• The standard of selecting civil servants:
Stick to the mission of serving the people,
virtue and capacity should be equally stressed.
• The principle of openness, equality, competition and
selecting excellence should be implemented.
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Civil Service Law 2006
Article 11: civil servant should qualify the following terms:
• Chinese nationality;
• Age 18 years old plus;
• Upholding the Constitution;
• Behaving good virtue;
• Healthy enough to perform duty;
• Educational background and work capacity fit for the position;
• Other terms stipulated by law.10
Therefore
Anyone who wish to enter civil service for the first job have to :
• Get a diploma or bachelor’s degree at least
• Pass the general civil service examination: Administrative Aptitude
Test, national level, provincial level
• Pass the profession examination of certain government agency
• Pass the interview, generally 1:5
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Promotion is also meritocracy dominated
• Civil Service Law Article 7: the appointment of civil servants should
stick to the principle of meritocracy with virtue and capabilities being
stressed, and performance should also be stressed.
• Working Regulation on Selection and Appointment of Party and
Government Leaders (Firstly released in 2002, revised in 2013)
To build a high-quality leaders team with firm belief, the leaders
should serve the people, work diligently and practically, and be
accountable and clean.12
Working Regulation on Selection and Appointment of Party and Government leaders
Article 2 the selection and appointment of the Party and
government leaders should stick to the following principles:
• The Party assuming the responsibility for cadres affairs
• Meritocracy without boundaries
• Virtue and capability should be stressed with virtue being prior
• Performance oriented with satisfaction of the mass
• Democratic, open, competitive and excellency-ranking selecting
• Democratic centralization
• Law-based operation
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Empire meritocracy
• Loyalty to emperor and love the
subject
• Virtue + capability: Confucianism
based Examination
• No split of politician and bureaucracy
• Promotion based on closed top-down
assessment: virtue, capability,
performance, cleanness
• Self-learning and cultivating oneself
Republic meritocracy
• Patriotic and serve the people
• Virtue + capability: high education +
AAT+ professional test + face-to-face
interview.
• No split of politician and bureaucracy
• Promotion based on semi-3600
assessment: virtue, capability,
diligence, performance, cleanness
Satisfaction degree evaluation of the
mass being included.
• Training welfare to renew civil service
both virtuously and intellectually, e.g.
leadership training