ABSTRACT
For outsiders, personal information of prominent Chinese governmental officials is scarce and well-covered before it is released to the public. Ordinary Chinese usually only can access the versions of these officials’ vitae that are in very plain form and contain limited information, chiefly the timelines of their professional life. The information includes places and dates of birth, secondary to higher education, dates of becoming Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, places and divisions they worked, and some brief training programs they attended as governmental employees and CCP cadres. Ambiguities do exist in the profiles of Chinese regional leaders. While the study does not seek to deny the ambiguities, the study interpretations help readers clarify their potential suspicions about the makeup of Chinese regional leaders. Even the secondhand biographical information sometimes is difficult to acquire, and some information is more difficult to clarify. This is particularly true when it comes to regional leaders in the post-Deng Xiaoping era. Readers outside China might be confused: why do these officials cover up their biographical information while they hold public offices? In China’s meritocracy-like bureaucracy, particularly in the post-Deng era when revolutionaries became so rare, the longer years of services and more experiences are positive factors for future promotions to these regional leaders. However, unlike in open elections where candidates’ ages are being comprehensively considered by the voters along with experiences, capabilities, advocacies, and even charisma, the CCP center does not evaluate its cadres and bureaucrats similarly. Plus, there is a strict age limit for regional leaders who are still in the selection pool. More experienced, highly educated, and younger aged–cadres definitely receive credits when their supervisors sit behind mountains of similar resumes. Cadres who are not well known may take a risk and sometimes lie on their resumes about their ages or other small details; if not caught, doing this can help. Currently the CCP has digitalized everything to prevent such unfair competitions, but in 2011 a municipal leader of Shijiazhuang, Wang Yali, was caught and prosecuted for fabricating her resume and those of others (she accepted bribes for helping others); it was said that on her resume as a regional leader and leader of the local Communist Youth League, only her gender was genuine. 1
