[3] Most broadly, civil servants in China are a subset of CCP cadres, the class of professional staff who administer and manage Chinese government, party, military, and major business institutions.
Civil servants are "the managers, administrators and professionals who work for government bodies," including leadership such as the Premier, state councillors, ministers, and provincial governors, among others.
[6] It excludes manual workers and many other types of cadre, such as those employed in public service units such as hospitals, universities, or state-owned enterprises, even though those positions are also paid and managed by the government.
Part of the motivation was ideological; Confucian teaching discouraged overly involved, warlike, and rowdy rulers alike, making the delegation of legislative and executive authority particularly necessary.
[8] During the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BC), records show that kings would send edicts encouraging local officials to identify promising candidates for office in the capital.
[9] This practice was intensified under Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141 – 87 BC), who standardized the selection process with the addition of question-and-answer elements on classic texts judged by a panel of scholars.
[14] Following the death of Mao Zedong and the rise of reformist Deng Xiaoping, efforts began to change the cadre system after the discord of the Cultural Revolution so that the CCP would be able to effectively carry out the modernization of China.
[15] Reforms beginning in 1984 did not decrease the approximately 8.1 million cadre positions[16] across China, but began to decentralize their management to authorities at provincial and local levels.
[17] Zhao Ziyang, elected General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 1987, sought to transform the cadre system into a more independent body resembling a civil service.
[19] In the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Zhao and his allies lost their influence among CCP elite and the civil service reform project was denounced by remaining leaders.
[20] Zhao's proposals were subsequently heavily modified and implemented as the "Provisional Regulations on State Civil Servants" in 1993, albeit on a much less comprehensive scale.
[27]: 1 An alternative route to civil service other than the examination is the assigned graduates system (xuandiaosheng, 选调生), which is available to student cadres who are at least probationary members of the CCP.