ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s it was hardly necessary to justify a continuously high academic interest in the political role of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA). The representation of military leaders in central and regional leadership bodies of party and government organs in the People's Republic of China (PRC) was - even for Chinese standards - high, and so was the academic output of work on the subject. 1 As soon as the army's extensive representation started to decrease, the academic interest of western China watchers followed proportionally. Today, the major interest in studies on the PLA focuses primarily on questions of technical modernisation and technology transfer. 2 Observation of the army's political role has been reduced to a sideline occupation.
