ABSTRACT
Since its taking control of China, the CCP struggles to define where its authority should end and where the authority of the government should start. Their agonizing relationships are well reflected in the zigzagging pathways the troubled relationship has traveled. During the first 60 years of its reign, the CCP has gone through at least four phases of relationships with the State: The first phase (1949–1957) was evidenced with majority of the top government positions being held by the top CCP leaders and is called “the Party embedded in the State.” The second phase (1957–1978) reflects the CCP’s total control of the State and is called “the Party being the State.” The third phase (1980s–1990s) saw the CCP’s effort to withdraw from governance matters and is known as “separation of the Party and the State powers.” The fourth phase, from 1989 to the present, has seen the CCP try to lead in the formulation of long-range planning visions while the State is tasked with the implementation of those visions; this phase is called “the Party leading the State.” Currently, with extraordinary efforts, the boundaries are becoming clearer; but as long as the CCP maintains its “emperorship,” an autonomous State will remain but a dream.
