1. I am most grateful to the Smith Richardson and Chiang Ching-kuo Foundations for providing support for my research in the U.S., China and Taiwan, and to Beijing University for its generous hospitality during a two-month stay on its beautiful campus.Google Scholar

2. For an early study, see O'Brien, Kevin J., Reform without Liberalization: China's National People's Congress and the Politics of Institutional Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; for recent studies, see for instance Tanner, Murray Scot, The Politics of Lawmaking in Post-Mao China: Institutions, Processes, and Democratic Prospects (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pei, Minxin, “Is China democratizing?” Foreign Affairs (1998), pp. 68–82.Google Scholar

3. Renbo, Yu, Kua shiji de sikao (End of Century Thoughts) (Jinan: Shandong renmin chubanshe, 1993), p. 41.Google ScholarRenbo, Yu is also the executive vice-editor of the very useful Shenglin, Wang (ed.), Difang lifa gailun (An Introduction to Local Law-making) (Jinan: Shandong renmin chubanshe, 1993).Google Scholar

4. Guiyuan, Qi (ed.), Zhongguo renmin daibiao dahui zhidu tonglun (A Comprehensive Guide to China's People's Congress System) (Harbin: Heilongjiang jiaoyu chubanshe, 1994), pp. 156–57.Google Scholar

5. Interviews with Yu Renbo and Professor Ju Maoqin, Jinan, 25 11 1997.Google Scholar

6. The NPC is the only body empowered to pass laws (falü). The State Council and PPCs pass regulations (fagui).Google Scholar

7. Yu Renbo interview.Google Scholar

8. Ju Maoqin interview.Google Scholar

9. Yu Renbo interview.Google Scholar

10. The details about the Heilongjiang PPC are contained in Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee, Legal System Work Office, Heilongjiang sheng qing jianjie (A Summary of Conditions in Heilongjiang Province), (Harbin, 1998), pp. 21–24.Google Scholar

11. There is provision for over 80 PPC SC members in the much more populous province of Shandong; interview with Bo Zhenming, SC member, Shandong PPC, Jinan, 24 11 1997.Google Scholar

12. In the case of the last election for the Shandong PPC SC, there were 35 candidates for 31 seats; interview with Shandong PPC member Shi Zhongjian, Jinan, 26 11 1997.Google Scholar

13. Unusually for a PPC, the current chair of Heilongjiang is a former provincial party first secretary, Sun Weiben. His appointment was decided at Central Committee level.Google Scholar

14. Bo Zhenming interview.Google Scholar

15. Interview with Meng Qingxiang, SC vice-chairman, Heilongjiang PPC, Harbin, 28 11 1997.Google Scholar

16. With this preponderance of Party members, the Party group does not need to meet in advance of the chairman's committee. Meng Qingxiang interview.Google Scholar

17. Wang Shenglin, An Introduction to Local Law-making, p. 49.Google Scholar

18. Interview with Wang Yunqi, vice-director of the Legal Work Office, Heilongjiang PPC SC, Harbin, 28 11 1997.Google Scholar

19. Bo Zhenming interview, Yu Renbo interview.Google Scholar

20. The high-tech meeting room of the Heilongjiang SC, in a handsome new PPC building constructed in the early 1990s, is less imposing than that of the Shandong PPC SC, but its fine audio-visual facilities mean that Heilongjiang has a full video record of all sessions of the SC of the 8th PPC, clearly a fine database for further research. Since the PPC meets only once a year, no special chamber was provided for it in the building, and the annual plenary sessions take place in cinemas or other public places.Google Scholar

21. Bo Zhenming interview.Google Scholar

22. Yu Renbo interview.Google Scholar

23. Interview with Cui Mingshi, representative, Heilongjiang PPC, and vice-director of its finance and economics committee, Harbin, 28 11 1997.Google Scholar

24. Ibid.

25. Interview with Yao Qianxun, staff member, Shandong PPC legislation committee, Jinan, 25 11 1997.Google Scholar

26. Cui Mingshi interview.Google Scholar

27. Yu Renbo interview; Cui Mingshi interview; Shenglin, Wang (ed.), An Introduction to Local Law-making, pp. 48–49.Google Scholar

28. For the national level, compare with Tanner, The Politics of Lawmaking. The aphorism is attributed to a Harvard professor, the late Don K. Price; see Allison, Graham T., Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis (Boston: Little, Brown, 1971), pp. 176, 316.Google Scholar

29. The imprisonment of a vice-mayor of Harbin on corruption charges was cited to me as evidence that the province had this problem well in hand. Since leaving China, I have seen evidence that vice-mayor Zhu Shengwen was wrongfully arrested, tortured, tried and imprisoned for life as a result of the machinations of another vice-mayor who was indeed corrupt and feared exposure.Google Scholar

30. The committee consulted its Shandong counterpart while preparing for this struggle. Cui Mingshi interview.Google Scholar

31. The national and local laws are reproduced in Heilongjiang sheng gongye wuran fangzhi tiaoli: tiaowen yaoshi (Heilongjiang Province's Regulations on the Prevention of Industrial Pollution: An Explanation of the Provisions) (Harbin: Heilongjiang sheng huangjing baohu ju, 1996).Google Scholar

32. Interview with Gao Guangzhou, Harbin, 28 11 1997.Google Scholar

33. Bo Zhenming interview.Google Scholar

34. Much of this section is based on an interview with Shi Zhongjian, a Beida doctoral candidate and a member of the Shandong PPC, to whom I am most grateful for the arrangements he made for my visit to his province.Google Scholar

35. A Korean reading a Shandong newspaper informed him of his success, but Shi telephoned his wife to make sure.Google Scholar

36. In addition to the certificate, membership of the PPC is confirmed by a list of names in the press and the issue of a member's card.Google Scholar

37. Shi, for instance, was a senior union official, though he resigned this position and became a “reserve” cadre after he moved to Beijing to work on his PhD.Google Scholar

38. The massive bureaucratic apparatus that underpins the U.S. Congress is justifiable since it is a separate institution and the source of much legislation. It is noteworthy that in the UK parliament where the “executive branch” (i.e. prime minister and cabinet) is in charge of legislation and leads from within the legislature backed by a normally loyal party, individual MPs and backbench committees are thought not to need significant bureaucratic back-up.Google Scholar

39. This suggestion was made by Shang Ying, a graduate student at Beida, to whom I am much indebted for considerable assistance on this project.Google Scholar

40. The classic study of this institution is Hucker, Charles O., The Censorial System of Ming China, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966).Google Scholar

41. There has been a striking increase in the degree to which Chinese citizens believe that lodging a complaint with the NPC is worthwhile; see Minxin Pei, “Is China democratizing?” p. 75.Google Scholar