China Briefing | Pen-pushers and paper tigers: China’s bureaucrats are still good at getting their way
China’s leaders may be portrayed as all-powerful but signs of frustration at the top suggest the bureaucracy is still dragging its feet on needed reform
One popular misconception about China’s authoritarian regime is that the top leaders’ instructions are revered like the royal decrees of past feudal dynasties and executed without delay or complaint.
It’s a fallacy perpetuated by state media, which are full of stories about how bureaucrats convene special meetings to praise the wisdom of the leadership and vow to carry their instructions to the letter.
But in reality, the bureaucracy has made a fine art of obfuscating central government policies since feudal times if the directives are deemed to affect vested interest groups, giving rise to the popular saying that “the sky is high and the emperor is far away”.
This is particularly true if the central authority is weak as it was during the decade-long reign of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, evoking another saying that “government decrees fail to reach beyond the walls of Zhongnanhai”, the downtown compound in Beijing where the top leaders work and live.
Since Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, his anti-corruption campaign has brought down thousands of corrupt officials, including several hundred senior ones.
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It has also struck fear into millions of other bureaucrats, making Xi one of the most powerful leaders in the history of the people’s republic.