The premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the premier of China and sometimes also referred to as the prime minister, is the

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a gro ...

of China and leader of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

. The premier is nominally the second most powerful position in China's

political system In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state. It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the govern ...

, under the

general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

(

paramount leader Paramount leader () is an informal term for the most important political figure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), often hol ...

), and holds the highest rank in the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

of the central government. The premier is responsible to the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee. The premier serves for a five-year term, renewable once. The premier presides over the plenary and executive meetings of the State Council, and is assisted by vice premiers in their work. Every premier has been a member of the

Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

since the PRC's founding in 1949, except during brief transition periods. In China's political system, the premier is generally thought to be responsible for managing the economy. The incumbent premier is

Li Keqiang Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affai ...

, who took office on 15 March 2013. He succeeded

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy ...

History

In 1989, Premier

Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Chi ...

, in cooperation with the then Central Military Commission chairman

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...

, was able to use the office of the premier to order the military crackdown of the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. The premier has been supported by four vice-premiers since Deng Xiaoping's reform in 1983. The first-ranked vice premier will act in the premier's capacity in their absence.

Powers and duties

Officially, the premier is approved by the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

upon the nomination of the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

. In practice, the candidate is chosen within the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP) through deliberations by incumbent

CCP Politburo The Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, formally known as the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and known as the Central Bureau before 1927, is the decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). ...

members and retired CCP Politburo members as part of the process of determining membership in the incoming new CCP Politburo Standing Committee. Under this informal process, the eventual future premier is initially chosen as first vice-premier before assuming the position of premier during a subsequent round of leadership transitions. Both the premier and the vice-premier are selected once every five years. The premier and the vice-premiers are limited to two terms. The premier has always been a member of the

Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...

. The premier is the highest administrative position in the

Government of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an Authoritarianism, authoritarian political system in the China, People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of Leg ...

. The premier is responsible for organizing and administering the Chinese civil bureaucracy. For example, the premier is tasked with planning and implementing national economic, social development and the state budget.http://english.people.com.cn/constitution/constitution.html , Section 3, Article 88 and Article 89. This includes overseeing the various ministries, departments, commissions and statutory agencies and announcing their candidacies to the

for vice-premiers, state councillors and ministerial offices. The premier's role and responsibilities are codified into the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

unlike a prime minister's from the Westminster system as by convention or traditions. The premier does not have

command authority ''Command Authority'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and co-written with Mark Greaney, and published on December 3, 2013. It is Clancy's last major work of fiction and was released posthumously two months after his death. Set du ...

over the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

, but is the head of the

National Defense Mobilization Commission The National Defense Mobilization Commission (; abbreviated NDMC) is an organization under the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Central Military Commission responsible for coordinating decisions concerning military affai ...

of China and deputy head of the CCP National Security Commission which are departments of the armed forces. Since the 1980s, there has been a division of responsibilities between the premier and the

general secretary of the Communist Party General Secretary or First Secretary is the official title of leaders of most communist parties. When a communist party is the ruling party in a Communist-led one-party state, the General Secretary is typically the country's ''de facto'' leader—th ...

wherein the premier is responsible for the technical details of implementing government policy while the general secretary gathers the political support necessary for government policy.

List of premiers

Chinese Soviet Republic (1931–1937)

The head of government is Chairman of the

Council of People's Commissars The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

. File:Mao Zedong in Yan'an.jpg, 1st —

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

(served: 1931–1934) File:Zhang Wentian3.jpg, 2nd — Chang Wen-t'ien
(served: 1934–1937)

People's Republic of China (1949–present)

File:Cropped ZhouAndDeng.png, 1st —

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

(served: 1949–1976) File:Hua Guofeng.jpg, 2nd —

Hua Guofeng Hua Guofeng (; born Su Zhu; 16 February 1921 – 20 August 2008), alternatively spelled as Hua Kuo-feng, was a Chinese politician who served as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Premier of the People's Republic of China. The design ...

(served: 1976–1980) File:Zhao Ziyang (1985).jpg, 3rd —

Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang ( zh, 赵紫阳; pronounced , 17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He was the third premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 198 ...

(served: 1980–1987) File:Lipeng.jpg, 4th —

(served: 1987–1998) File:Prem. Rongji at a Press Conference (1999) (cropped).jpg, 5th —

Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji (; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1998 to 2003 and CCP Politburo Standing Committee member from 1992 to 2002 along with the Chinese Communist ...

(served: 1998–2003) File:Wen Jiabao (Cropped).jpg, 6th —

(served: 2003–2013) File:Li Keqiang (cropped).jpg, 7th —

(served: 2013–present)

References

External links

Official PRC Government Website

Corpus of Political Speeches
Free access to the Prime Minister’s work report and political speeches from other regions, developed by the Hong Kong Baptist University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Premier Of The State Council Of The People's Republic Of China 1954 establishments in China