The Development and Evolution of Civil Servant Appointment System in China

The historical evolution of China's civil servant appointment system has gone through three stages: system germination, preliminary exploration and deepening development, and each stage presents corresponding characteristics.

1. The idea of civil servant appointment system in its embryonic stage (2 1 century ago) originated from the concept of petty officials in ancient China. After the founding of New China, the selection and appointment of cadres in China imitated the appointment system model of the Soviet Union, and the appointment and removal organs directly appointed candidates to certain positions. After the reform and opening up, in order to adapt to the rapid rise of township enterprises, some areas began to implement the appointment system of township cadres, and gradually spread throughout the country. 1987 and 1992 respectively issued the Interim Provisions on Supplementing the Appointment System and Employment System of Township Cadres and the Opinions on Further Adhering to and Perfecting the Appointment System of Township Cadres, which guided and standardized the practice of the appointment system of township leading cadres in various regions. At this time, the appointment system has the basic characteristics of the civil service appointment system in terms of open recruitment, contract management, employment period assessment and salary structure, and is considered as a prelude to the system generation. With the gradual deepening of the reform of the socialist market economic system, the reform of China's administrative institutions and the reform of the cadre and personnel system have also been put on the agenda. Under the guidance of the idea of "reforming outdated organizational system and personnel system", the thirteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to improve the administrative ability and level of the government by gradually reforming the cadre and personnel system. 1988 in order to deepen the reform of the cadre and personnel system, the personnel department was reorganized, mainly responsible for studying and formulating the reform plan of the personnel system. 1993, the State Council promulgated and implemented the "Provisional Regulations on State Civil Servants" (hereinafter referred to as the "Provisional Regulations"), marking the official establishment of China's civil service system. The "Provisional Regulations" stipulates that the appointment system is implemented in some positions, which means that the civil service appointment system and the national civil service system are simultaneously produced. At this stage, the civil service appointment system is characterized by the state-led system generation. As an important part of political system reform and civil servant management system construction, civil servant appointment system is carried out simultaneously with economic system reform. The characteristics of state-driven improve the efficiency of system generation and development, and lay the foundation for practical exploration in various places.

2. Preliminary Exploration Stage of Civil Servant Appointment System (2000-2010) In 2000, Song Defu, the former Minister of Personnel, emphasized that in the current social development stage and background which emphasized the vitality and effectiveness of the government, the civil servant appointment system should be combined with the appointment system to keep the balance between system reform and social stability. Since then, various localities have explored the appointment system and formed three schemes of government employee system, namely, Jilin model, Shenzhen model and Zhuhai model, but they all ended in vain because of the lack of national management regulations. In this context, in 2005, the 10th the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) passed the Civil Service Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Service Law), which clearly stipulated the scope of application, employment procedures, salary assessment, personnel disputes and so on. For the first time, we will further enhance the functional position of the appointment system in the management of the civil service appointment system, and clear the legal obstacles for the implementation of the civil service appointment system. Zhang Bailin, former Minister of Personnel, pointed out that on the basis of summing up the practical experience of regional reform, we should constantly improve the implementation rules of the civil service appointment system and provide all-round, high-level and diversified system construction and legal protection. In 2008, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and Civil Service Bureau were established one after another to continue to deepen the reform of civil service appointment system and guide all regions and departments to start the pilot work. Subsequently, the central government successively carried out important work such as the reform of the large-scale system and the reform of the classified management of civil servants, which laid a good institutional foundation for the implementation of the civil service appointment system and opened the exploration process of the reform of the civil service appointment system led by the state and coordinated by various localities. In 2007, under the guidance of the central government, Shanghai Pudong and Guangdong Shenzhen launched a pilot reform of the civil service appointment system. The following year, Pudong began to recruit talents in six professional fields, including urban planning and financial planning, and implemented an agreed salary system for civil servants. At the same time, under the guidance of the idea of emphasizing bold innovation, smooth implementation and stimulating vitality, from 2007 to 2009, Shenzhen * * * launched two public recruitment work for civil servants with appointment system, involving safety supervision, information technology and other professional fields, attracting thousands of people to sign up. However, there are many problems in the pilot process of the civil service appointment system: first, there is a gap between the salary provided by the government and the market level, which makes the recruitment position uncompetitive; Second, in the absence of scientific and reasonable job classification, how to define "professional posts" and "auxiliary posts" has become a difficult problem in practice; Third, problems such as poor promotion channels, lack of social security and imperfect exit mechanism have inhibited the enthusiasm of civil servants with appointment system. Under the guidance of the central government, some regions have taken the lead in carrying out policy pilots. On the whole, the number and scale of civil servants with appointment system are small, and their social recognition is not high. In this process, the legal norms and institutional guarantee of the central government still play a leading role, while the institutional innovation of local governments only plays a role in a small scale.

3. The deepening development stage of the civil service appointment system (20 1 1 year to date) is 20 1 1 year. At the symposium to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the Civil Service Law, Yin Weimin, then Minister of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, pointed out that we should take this opportunity to further deepen the development of the civil service appointment system [15]. In the same year, the Central Organization Department and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Pilot Measures for the Management of Civil Servants with Appointment System" to guide all regions to promote and expand the reform of appointment system, thus forming a development situation in which local governments boldly innovate and compete for pilot projects. During the "two sessions" on 20 12, Yin Weimin once again stressed that the state and government actively supported and encouraged all localities to explore the appointment system, and formed a set of standardized systems and methods through continuous summary and improvement. Since then, the recruitment and management methods of appointment civil servants have mushroomed in various regions. As of 20 17, more than 20 provinces have tried out the civil service appointment system. 20 17 The 37th meeting of the Central Deep Reform Group pointed out that the post appointment system is a key force and an important way to promote the reform of China's civil service system, optimize the structure of the civil service and build a professional talent team. In June 5438+February of the same year, Fu Xingguo, director of the National Civil Service Bureau, stressed that it is necessary to pay attention to the rationality, necessity and appropriateness of post setting, give full play to the leading role of the organization and personnel department, and ensure the fairness and justice of personnel recruitment, the rationality of performance appraisal and the certainty of dispute handling [17]. On the basis of summarizing the reform practice and development experience of various regions and departments, the professionalization of civil servants has been promoted. 20 17 the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the "regulations on the administration of appointment civil servants (for trial implementation)" to further introduce the market mechanism and promote the reform and development of the civil service management system since the 18th CPC national congress. Gradually moving towards a sound and mature civil servant appointment system has become one of the main forms of the flexible employment mechanism of our government in the future. At present, the civil service appointment system is characterized by the combination of national leadership and local practice to promote institutional innovation. After summing up the experience and problems of the pilot area system, the central government issued management regulations to guide, standardize and manage the practice of local appointment system, and select and unify the path of institutional change. Local governments also implement the appointment system according to specific conditions and carry out institutional innovation within the scope permitted by policies. The gradual advancement of this process has continuously promoted the development and maturity of the civil service appointment system.

Source: Journal of Shanghai Administration College (03,2020)