ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines two models of administration, which were employed in China in the 1940s and the early 1950s, and modified thereafter. The Yan'an model, articulated in 1942 – 1943, had at its core a process of rectification whereby leaders learned how to apply Marxism-Leninism and general Party policy to a concrete environment and were made to answer for their conduct in the field. The Yan'an movement had been a closed process of rectification, though the materials used to assess cadres were based on reports of their performance in the field. The Soviet model, which was often implemented dogmatically, tended to prescribe a leadership type which was more that of the manager than that of the cadre. The Soviet model of administration was, however, only imperfectly implemented and, in the mid-1950s, certain of its features came under attack.
