RESEARCH BRIEF 2015-5 January 2015
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STUDY OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY IN CHINA RESEARCH BRIEF 2015-5 January 2015 Puppies Who Climbed Out of the River: The Roles and Influence of Chief Commanders and Designers Andrew S. ERICKSON or all its limitations, China’s “Two Chiefs” program management system Fhas been highly effective. Through periodic efforts to improve the system, the “Two Chiefs” system and the leaders who run it have evolved considerably better incentives, and younger personnel. This research brief addresses over five generations, with a trend toward more programs, more work, the following dynamics concerning chief commanders and chief designers over the first six decades of defense industrial development in the People’s examines broad demographic trends, incentives, and challenges. This brief Republic of China: their career trajectories, roles, and influence. It also focuses primarily on program managers from China’s aerospace industry. The Study of Innovation and Technology in China (SITC) is a project of the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. SITC Research Briefs provide analysis and recommendations based on the work of project participants. Author’s views are their own. This material is based upon work supported by, or in part by, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office through the Minerva Initiative under grant #W911NF-09-1-0081. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army Research Office. 1 INTRODUCTION ment system consisting of administra- only after tremendous waste. The tive and technical lines of command. Cultural Revolution also led to poor China’s “Two Chiefs” program man- However, a 1962 launch failure, inves- construction of facilities, and the scat- agement system has been highly ef- tigated by Qian, triggered implemen- tered, over-stretched distribution of fective overall. Chinese program man- tation of a formal “two lines of com- R&D bases caused redundancy and agers have been selected through mand” program management system poor utilization rates and investment on-the-job challenges and attrition, under the guidance of Nie Rongzhen, results. The waste and inconvenience then entrusted with incremental- the commander of China’s nuclear necessitated remedial measures to in- ly greater technological leadership weapons program. To prevent future crease production and improve living roles. failures, the 5th Research Academy conditions. However, since the end of the strengthened management and es- The years immediately following Cultural Revolution in the mid-1970s, tablished regulations for program the Cultural Revolution were char- problems have emerged, prompting management that designated “a chief acterized by a period of recovery. In periodic efforts to improve the system designer for each model and strength- 1977, the Party approved the “Three through revised guidance and regula- ening the system of responsibility for Grasps” (三抓) missile and satellite tions. The “Two Chiefs” system and technical positions.” Thus implement- initiatives, involving the development the leaders who run it have evolved ed, the “Two Chiefs” system helped of the DF-5 intercontinental ballistic coordinate early progress in China’s missile, the JL-1 submarine-launched There has been a trend toward more strategic weapons complex. ballistic missile, and the DFH-2 com- considerably over five generations. programs, more work, better incen- China’s second generation of pro- munication satellite. In 1978, China’s tives, and younger personnel. gram managers was trained in the space industry discarded “erroneous Soviet Union before the 1960 Sino- policies and slogans,” restored tech- HISTORY Soviet split. During the Cultural nical titles and the chief designer sys- Revolution (1966–76), these person- tem, appointed chief designers for - major projects, restored and estab- gers, suffered terribly. Nuclear sub- lished S&T committees, established Official Chinese sources divide- marinenel, along chief with designerfirst-generation Peng Shilu,man an administrative system for plan- eration,China’s programled by Qian managers Xuesen andinto othfive- for example, was sent down to the ning, reinstated rules and regulations, erdistinct foreign-trained generations. talents, The firstreturned gen countryside to a pig farm. Even Qian and established quality control and from abroad to establish a defense in- Xuesen had to spend time digging lar- logistics systems. dustry for the newly founded People’s vae from dirt paths. According to one During this time, the defense in- Republic of China. In the late 1950s, account, “The technical command dustry’s homegrown third genera- Premier Zhou Enlai stated that while line, the administrative command tion of program managers emerged. years of Sino-American ambassado- line, and the designer system for R&D, Leaders included communications were all shattered.” satellite chief designer Sun Jiadong, Larger dynamics were also at satellite and manned spacecraft chief We had won back Qian Xuesen. rial talks had yielded little else: work. Space industry staff, for ex- designer Qi Faren, and rocket system That alone made the talks worth- ample, split into factions, halting re- commander Huang Chunping. This while. Apart from Qian, there search and production. Ground sta- generation served as program manag- were quite a number of specialists tions witnessed violent struggles. ers in a “two chiefs” system that was returning from abroad. All of them Communications were severed, mate- have been placed on various lead- rial supply was stopped, and construc- after 1984. ing technical posts to contribute tion work halted. Warring factions de- definedThe fourthand regulated generation more of programformally to the space industry…. layed testing, prompting Zhou Enlai managers, also homegrown, rose in As technological challenges to call in the personnel concerned “to the years following Deng Xiaopeng’s mounted, initial development under persuade and educate” them. reform and opening up to succeed an elite cadre of foreign-trained ex- In addition, unrealistic goals led perts give way to the more institu- to dead ends. Under pressure from Deng’s reforms unleashed economic tionalized “Two Chiefs” system. In ideologues, excessive numbers of sat- development,their significantly but alsoolder resulted predecessors. in bud- - ellites and launches were planned. get cuts for military and strategic in- face strategic missile, the R-2 (cop- Some important projects began to dustrial programs, thus making even ieddeveloping from the its Sovietfirst surface-to-surUnion), under be developed without thorough fea- the highest positions in China’s de- Qian Xuesen’s 5th Research Academy, sibility study or proper procedures. fense industrial sector far less desir- China initiated a program manage- Serious losses were reversed, but able than emerging opportunities in 2 a burgeoning market economy. Some ages in the 40s leading teams whose sponsibility. As former SADI director chief commanders and designers who average age is in the 30s. From 1992 began their careers in the 1980s and to 2003, rocket system engineers’ av- - 1990s felt this tension acutely and erage age plummeted by 18 years. Liu Chunyi explains: considered “jumping into the sea” of For example, the chief commanders principleThe most is what difficult we partcall wasthrow se- the private sector. According to J-15 and chief designers for all seven ma- inglecting puppies the right into water.people. … The a group first and J-31 chief designer Sun Cong, the jor Shenzhou-6 systems had an av- of university kids come to us and budget cuts of the 1980s resulted in all appear to be in high spirits, just 20,000 professionals working on just than their Shenzhou-5 counterparts. like furry puppies. There is no way four J-8II aircraft over an entire year, Theerage Shenzhou-7age of 48.7, fiveteam years was younger even of telling which one of them will so they built another four outside the younger, with chief designers of key excel. You cannot judge them by state plan. Moreover, there was little subsystems ranging in age from 30 their looks. Therefore, the best so- money to be made. Of the 48 univer- to 41. In January 2004, 42-year-old lution is to throw all of them into sity graduates who began working at Zhang Bainan succeeded 71-year- the river. … Some manage to climb the same time with Sun’s Shenyang old Qi Faren as chief designer of the out of the river. You then make Aircraft Design Institute (SADI) en- Shenzhou spacecraft. your selection from this group. trance cohort, only 20 persevered. As Despite an improvement in ma- terial incentives, program manag- Promising talents thus selected ers and their subordinates are often “must go through all the steps, start- China’s market economy was Xinhua news agency documents: face a crushing workload generat- ing with, in particular, the basic de- beginning to boom. Many aero- ed by urgency to make progress. In sign job.” It was in this fashion that space experts were lured to pri- the Maoist era, when material incen- J-15 and J-31 chief designer Sun Cong vate or foreign-funded enter- tives were minimal, Chengdu Aircraft and six contemporaries were select- prises. A popular jingle at the Corporation’s No. 611 Institute al- ed as an under-forty “new leadership time—“Making missiles earns less ready operated on a “6-11” to “7-11” team.” Known as the “Seven Wolves,” than selling tea eggs”—highlight- basis. This entailed working either they replaced much older predeces- ed low salaries in the sector. six days at 11 hours per day or seven sors, who were forcibly retired. Others, however, like Chang’e-3 days at 11 hours per day. deputy chief designer Jia Yang, who As J-10 chief designer Song led the Yutu lunar rover develop- Wencong attests in his memoirs, test A CHANGING WORKPLACE ment team in addition to working periods were shortened by work- In an effort to take the “Two Chiefs” on Shenzhou 1-4, Beidou, the China- ing constantly every day despite the system to a new level, China’s space Brazil Earth Remote Sensing Satellite, low salaries of the 1980s.