Introduction

Although China has been undergoing large-scale socioeconomic transformation since the late 1970s, its authoritarian state remains largely intact. The party–state polity comprises a dual bureaucracy, with the party apparatus dominant over the government bureaucracy. Being the sole ruling party, the CCP is the real policy maker in China. Under the absolute leadership of the CCP, social policy-making power at the national level is shared by the legislature, the NPC and its Standing Committee, and the SC (China's cabinet) and its ministries and commissions. According to China's Constitution, the NPC and its Standing Committee has the power to enact laws and to make major decisions. The SC and its ministries have the authority to make policies and enact administrative rules and regulations in relevant policy areas. As China has its unique polity, this chapter identifies key policy players, examining how they operate and interact with each other in the process of making China's social policy.

China's real policy maker: the Chinese Communist Party

Understanding the CCP's organisation and operation is essential to understand China's social policy-making process. Founded in 1921, the CCP is the largest political party in the world with more than 70 million members. After it came to power in 1949, the CCP established a one-party state form of government in China. Based on the Leninist principle of democratic centralism, the CCP has established a hierarchical pattern of organisation in the shape of a pyramid (Saich, 2001). As the CCP plays an all-powerful role in China's polity (CCP, 2002), it overshadows the Chinese state.