Robert J. Waste

Public Administration in China Impressions of Some of the Changes Since the Cultural Revolution

In the wake of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China has moved in the direction of decentralization and increased autonomy for local and regional administrators. This article gives an impressionistic and somewhat speculative account of this trend in three administrative sectors: agriculture, industry, and the Chinese university system. Both field work and interviews show that the post Cultural Revolution institutional shift is minor and tentative despite the fact that middle-level Chinese bureaucrats appear to perceive the changes to be both necessary and far-reaching. The key to future modifications of the post Cultural Revolution administrative shift may center as much upon this set of administrative attitudes as upon the substantive success or failure of local implementation efforts.