ABSTRACT
The report to the Thirteenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee in 1987 announced that reform of the cadre and personnel system should focus on the establishment of a public service system. The Beijing Institute of Organizational and Personnel Studies published a study report in the first issue of Lingdao kexue (Leadership Science) in 1988, entitled "Tentative Ideas on Restructuring China's Cadre and Personnel System." The editor's note pointed out that this report had been used as an important reference for drafting the report to the thirteenth party congress. In September 1986, a Political Reform Research Group headed by Zhao Ziyang was set up. Bao Tong was assigned to take charge of its general administration. In November, seven study groups were established to cover the various subjects under political system reform. Cao Zhi took charge of the "Personnel Group," which had ten participants from the Political Research Office of the Central Organization Department.
