General Office of the Chinese Communist Party

The General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, often referred to as the Central Office (中办), is an office directly under the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of providing support for the Central Committee and its Politburo, including codifying intra-party regulations, conducting policy research and providing administrative support. The director of the General Office currently serves as the first-ranked secretary of the Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party.

General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

中共中央办公厅 Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Bàngōngtīng
Abbreviation	Zhōngbàn (中办)
Formation	1942 (1942)
Type	Department directly reporting to the Central Committee Ministerial level agency
Headquarters	West Building, Zhongnanhai, Beijing
Director	Cai Qi
Deputy director	Meng Xiangfeng *
Parent organization	Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Subsidiaries	Central Security Bureau Administrative Bureau of the Mao Mauseleum
*Maintains full minister-level rank

General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Simplified Chinese	中共中央办公厅
Traditional Chinese	中共中央辦公廳
Literal meaning	Chinese-Communist Central Business Hall
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōnggòng Zhōngyāng Bàngōngtīng
Alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	中办
Traditional Chinese	中辦
Literal meaning	Central Office
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngbàn

History

The General Office's establishment date is uncertain, though it existed by 1942 as Li Fuchun was its chief at that time; previously, its functions were exercised by the Organization Department or technical secretariats.

Function

The General Office is responsible for handling the day-to-day operations of the Central Committee, Secretariat, Politburo, and the Politburo Standing Committee. It is in charge of assisting in drafting, revising and editing and circulating party directives and internal memos, as well as the classification of party information. The General Office also transmits and ensures the implementation of the instructions from the top-level, formulates CCP regulations, and supervises legislation.

The General Office is also in charge of arranging logistics for major events and meetings of the Central Committee and its Politburo, and for preparing agendas, recording and filing meeting minutes, and distribution of communications to meeting stakeholders. It is responsible for administrative staff and political secretaries, collecting briefing information, organizing inspection tours, managing the finances of the CCP, and handling logistics and liaisons with other top-level CCP organizations.

Although its business is often not overtly political, its Directors have historically had close connections with the CCP's top leaders, and usually join the Politburo or the Secretariat after their period leading the General Office. The Director of the General office has been informally referred to as the "Danei Zongguan" (大内总管), roughly translated as "the gatekeeper". While the Director of the General Office is sometimes referred to as an analogue to the party General Secretary's "Chief of Staff", the General Secretary also maintains a personal staff as part of the Office of the General Secretary, whose director may also, but not necessarily, conterminously hold the position of Director of the General Office.

List of directors

Director of the General Office of the Central Secretariat

1. Li Fuchun (1942–1945)
2. Yang Shangkun (1945–1948)

Director of the General Office of the Central Committee

1. Yang Shangkun (1948–1965)
2. Wang Dongxing (1965–1978)
3. Yao Yilin (1978–1982)
4. Hu Qili (1982–1983)
5. Qiao Shi (1983–1984)
6. Wang Zhaoguo (1984–1986)
7. Wen Jiabao (1986–1993)
8. Zeng Qinghong (1993–1999)
9. Wang Gang (1999–2007)
10. Ling Jihua (2007–2012)
11. Li Zhanshu (2012–2017)
12. Ding Xuexiang (2017–2023)
13. Cai Qi (2023–)

Agencies directly under the General Office

• Research Office
• Secretariat
• Bureau of Regulations
• Security Bureau
• Confidential Bureau
• Confidential Transportation Bureau
• Special Accounting Office
• Supervision and Inspection Office
• Personnel Bureau
• Office of the General Secretary
• Administration Bureau of Organs directly under the Central Committee

See also

• Politics of the People's Republic of China
• Secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party
• General Offices
  • General Office of the State Council
  • General Office of the Central Military Commission
• General Department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union