Innovations in Cadres Selection and Promotion in China: the Case of Mudanjiang City

Abstract

China’s new cadre selection and promotion system has been arguably considered as China’s most significant move in securing its implementation of reform strategies. Almost at the same time when he was advocating for China’s economic reform in 1978, the late Deng Xiaoping, China’s reform champion also issued a set of important speeches on reforming China’s cadre selection and promotion protocols in order that there would be enough leadership to help meeting the challenges of the reform needs. His view on what talents are is a de facto mandate leading the way for China’s cadre selection and promotion reform. This paper uses the case of Mudanjiang, a well-known city in China’s northeast, to illustrate how Deng’s Xiaoping’s cadre selection and promotion ideas are implemented. Through literature and documents review, onside observation, person to person interviews, and surveys, the authors examined how cadres are publicly nominated, competitively elected, and scientifically selected in Mudanjian city. They study shows, the cadre open selection mechanisms have worked well, it has opened the door for many talented people who otherwise would not have had the chance to be even noticed by the upper management. The study also reveals some existing problems in the current system and made suggestions for further reform.