ABSTRACT
Chinese regional leaders are among a small group of decision-makers whose decisions have been changing peoples' lives and reshaping politics among local governments and the center. Individually, a regional leader, for instance, a party boss of a province or a deputy leader of a provincial people's congress, cannot be compared to any of the central leaders; a central leader is far more influential and powerful and controls many resources. This chapter describes the patterns of regional elite political mobility in post-Deng Xiaoping's China, and the factors that affect elite mobility and its consequences. It also explains how political-mobility issues have affected leaders' decision making and how the outcomes can be used to explain political phenomena in contemporary China. The chapter analyzes the regional leaders' potentials and chances to be promoted or relocated in China's political system. It explores some issues by analyzing Chinese elites, especially those regional leaders who came to power in the post-Deng Xiaoping era.
