The Historical Evolution and Governance Logic 56 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on WSP Insight at: http://www.wsp-publishing.com/Enhome/Periodical/plist/pid2/258 The Historical Evolution and Governance Logic of China’s The Historical Evolution and Cadre Personnel System：Taking the Personnel Exchange Governance Logic Between Local Governments and Central Enterprises as an Example 37 Hongming Wang School of Political Science and Public Administration，China University of Political Science and Law，Beijing，China Bo Liu School of Law，Tongji University，Shanghai，China Qiufu Li School of Social Sciences，Tsinghua University，Beijing，China Abstract Purpose－The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the change of cadre and personnel and to elucidate the development of Chinese cadre personnel system. Design/methodology/approach－Based on the rich studies of China cadre personnel system，this paper focus on the change of cadre and personnel between the local government and SOEs. Findings－The examination of the three levels of mobility of local government and central enterprise cadres suggest that the growth background and career prospects of heads of central SOEs are inferior to the ones of local government officials. The narrow promotion channels，the single line of education and work experience，the less experience in multi-departmental positions，the long-term employment in a particular department，and so on all determine that the heads of central enterprises have a“ceiling”of career development when moving to a higher level. Research limitations/implications－The influence mechanism framework for the cultural and creative the Chinese cadre personnel system is finally obtained，which provides theoretical guidance and a practical operation path for the Chinese cadre personnel system. Originality/value－The purpose of this study is to explore the historical evolution and governance logic of China’s cadre and personnel system through the analysis of the communication between local government and central enterprises，so as to better promote the development of China’s cadre and personnel system and provide more practical policies. Keywords Cadre personnel system, Local government, State-owned enterprise Paper type Research Paper 1. Introduction As the two main forces for the rapid development of Chinese economy，the local government and the SOEs have been widely studied by worldwide scholars that how they increase the economic growth respectively. The history，system，and policy of the relationship between central government and local government，government and enterprise are the main focuses. The empirical research is used to study the economic relations between finance and tax. Further discussions on theories appear that whether it’s the change of inner-government relations that drives the competition between local governments finally to 100 change the Chinese reform process or it’s the mixed economy born out of the marketization that makes 2 the economic miracle of China happen . Meanwhile，the study on the communication of cadre and personnel between SOEs and the local government is very few. The current studies are mainly developed based on the above discussions，never gaining enough attention as an independent and important phenomenon. As a matter of fact，cadre personnel system not only supports the basic governance of a country，but also forms comparatively stable political ascendency and elite groups. It builds the most basic “ ， Journal of Chinese Human power relation between the power structure and each of their regulated subject. Once setting the route Resource Management ”3 Vol. 11 No. 2, 2020 cadres are the determinants . The unified power dispatched by the Communist Party of China penetrates pp. 37‑56 © World Scientific Publishing House in every power subject through systems and cadres and personnel play the role of liaisons among these 2040‑8005 DOI: 10.47297/wspchrm power subjects. The purpose of this study is to explore the historical evolution and governance logic of WSP2040‑800504.20201102 JCHRM China’s cadre and personnel system through the analysis of the communication between local 11，2 government and central enterprises，so as to better promote the development of China’s cadre and personnel system and provide more practical policies. 2. Literature Review 38 In the past dozens of years，the cadre personnel system has been one of the core topics in the study of Chinese politics. With the development of politics in China， relevant literature can be divided chronologically into four paths，totalitarianism（after 1949，the establishment of the People’s Republic of China），factional politics（1970，at the end of the Cultural Revolution），generational politics（1980，at the beginning of the opening reform），technocracy （1990，after the reform of the cadre personnel system） With the progressive rebuilding of American social science system after the war，using the pattern of the totalitarianism to reveal the overview of politics in China became a trend. Especially in the late 1950s， American scholars tended to use the framework of the totalitarianism to understand the Communist Party of China，which became the main topic of China study at that time. The China Quarterly mainly published the paper of the study of the CPC. On the one hand，the columns such as“Big Event”and “Literature Collection”accumulated abundant historical materials of the CPC. On the other hand， academic discussions on the CPC were constantly developed. Following the earlier path of the totalitarianism，through Chinese cadre personnel system，most scholars tried to understand the model of “political party-nation”since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Based on the values of the totalitarianism，the analysis of the CPC leaders’personalities and backgrounds of their growth were highlighted. Their political experiences，personalities and collective characteristics were used to analyze the reasons why the revolution led by the CPC succeeded and the distinguished features of the People’s Republic of China were hoped to be found.“The Chinese Communist Cadre：Key to Political Control”written by Walter E. Gourlay in 1952 is the first monograph of the systematic study on the CPC after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in the American academic circle. The author introduces the organizational framework of the CPC and concludes that cadres are the key for the central government to govern. He points out that cadres are the core of the organization of the CPC and the 4 education to them rely on the ideology of the Marxism-Leninism . Through the case study of one department of the central government，a county and a commune，A. Doak Barnett，describes how the grass roots of the CPC work，revealing how the political power penetrates in the all fields of grass roots 5 through cadres and bureaucracy . Lyman Van Slyke notices that the pivotal role of the united front in the development of the CPC. He believes that the united front not only connects the general public with the 6 elicit group，but also make the CPC’s leadership rightful . With the wave of“behaviorism revolution”in American political circle，the field of comparative politics began to highlight the“input”and“output”of the political system. Various structures of interest became the core issues concerned by American political scholars. The research paradigm of pluralism began to be introduced into the research of Chinese politics. Just before and after the“Cultural Revolution”，a series of“political events”created by the high-level elites in the CPC made American scholars realize that the so-called communist system was not a monolithic part under the framework of omnipotence. In fact，there were many interest groups with different subjects in it. Therefore，after the 1970s，the focus of the discussion of China’s cadre and personnel system began to shift from elites to the operation of power and process of decision-making. The so-called“factional politics”has become the political expression that influences the current understanding. For example，William W. Whitson finds that the PLA generals can be divided into different factions according to the field army they belong to. Generally speaking，it is difficult for a senior general of a certain field army to enter and develop in other 7 field forces. The cooperation among various field armies is not intimate . According to Andrew Nathan， the CPC factions are based on the“client ties”and factional politics keeps circulating according to the law 8 of“consensus-conflict-crisis”. Other scholars，by analyzing the background of political elites，such as work experience，school，family，provincial nationality，etc.，mainly believe that factional politics is an informal factor that can affect the official cadre personnel system. They pay attention to how“factional politics”will affect China’s institutional change. They believe that the pluralistic power of“factional The Historical politics”promotes the change of China’s decision-making system. Similar to the western countries at Evolution and that time，the decision-making process is controlled by different interest subjects，but the western Governance Logic decision-making process is in various fields of society. Political power is composed of multiple social interest groups， while China’s decision-making power is dispersed within the party and state organizations. 39 At the same time of the self-improvement of American social science theory，the international situation of drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe，also the end of the cold war，the above have given American scholars great confidence. In the atmosphere of“the end of history”，to test the exemplary significance of the new theory and to use the“state-society”analysis framework to find the democratization stimulus to the China’s communist system which had not yet undergone democratic transformation draw the attentions of the American scholars who studied China in 1980s. Therefore， “when will China democratize and what will lead to China’s democratization”became the core proposition of this period.