Crown Prince Party (Chinese: 太子党;
pinyinPinyin , or more formally Hanyu Pinyin , is currently the most commonly used romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu means the Chinese language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"...
: Tàizǐ Dǎng), or
The Princelings, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communists of the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
. It is not a
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
, (usually in the second-generation), but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from
nepotismNepotism is favouritism granted to relatives or friends, without regard to their merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos .- Papal :...
and
cronyismCronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy...
, by analogy with
Crown PrinceA Crown Prince or Crown Princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
s in hereditary monarchies.
The term was coined in the early 20th century, referring to the son of
Yuan ShikaiYuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the...
and his cronies.
Crown Prince Party (Chinese: 太子党;
pinyinPinyin , or more formally Hanyu Pinyin , is currently the most commonly used romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Hanyu means the Chinese language, and pinyin means "phonetics", or more literally, "spelling sound" or "spelled sound"...
: Tàizǐ Dǎng), or
The Princelings, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior communists of the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
. It is not a
political partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
, (usually in the second-generation), but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from
nepotismNepotism is favouritism granted to relatives or friends, without regard to their merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos .- Papal :...
and
cronyismCronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy...
, by analogy with
Crown PrinceA Crown Prince or Crown Princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
s in hereditary monarchies.
The term was coined in the early 20th century, referring to the son of
Yuan ShikaiYuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the...
and his cronies. It later pointed to the relatives of the top four nationalist families;
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
's kin,
Soong May-lingSoong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek was a First Lady of the Republic of China, the wife of former President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter...
's kin, Chen Lifu's kin, and Kong Xiangxi's kin. After the 1950s, the term pointed to
Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo , Kuomintang politician and leader, was the son of President Chiang Kai-shek and held numerous posts in the government of the Republic of China...
and his friends in
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
.
History
The latest crown princes are in mainland China. Many senior leaders often lobby directly or indirectly for their descendants and relatives to succeed them. Although some of them are good citizens and keep a low profile, many of them are perceived to be arrogant and undeserving of the fortune or the prominence they hold. By utilizing their parents' privileges, they often place themselves above the law and foster the contagion of corruption. Some of these crown princes hold senior positions such as vice minister or above in their thirties, for which other ordinary cadres would struggle for decades. Others run companies involved in large scale corruption and even smuggle, these are called Official Speculators (or Guandao in Chinese). All of these misdeeds raised widespread sentiments of resentment and jealousy, and some crown princes have fallen victim to the trend of enmity that is apparent in China. Most political observers see the Crown Prince Party as having been at their pinnacle of power in the 1980s and had their power reduced after 1989 by a number of factors:
- First, not only did the Crown Prince Party cause some resentment among the general public, but they also caused resentment within the vast major of Party members who did not have a powerful relative; for example, Chen Yuan
Chen Yuan , born in January 1945, is Governor of the China Development Bank.Chen Yuan graduated with a Master' s degree in Industrial Economics from the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences...
, son of Chen YunChen Yun was one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China and one of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party for almost its entire history. He is also known as Liao Chengyun ; it's unclear whether this was his original name or a pseudonym he used during his...
; and Chen Haosu, son of Chen YiChen Yi or Chen I was a Chinese communist military commander and politician.-Biography:He was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
lost their election in BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
and had to be transferred to other positions.
- Second, the booming Chinese economy caused a new wealthy class to emerge, many of whom demanded fair play and protection of their properties.
- Third, as the public was unsatisfied with the plague of corruption and cronyism, with the resentment and discontent mounting to a degree that could wreak havoc on the CCP's reign, the CCP had to take some measures to appease these strong feelings.
One watershed event occurred during the 15th National Congress of the CCP in 1997. Some prominent figures of the Crown Prince Party suffered great losses as candidates.
Xi JinpingXi Jinping is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the country's Vice President, the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Principal of the Central Party School, and the 6th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee,...
(习近平), son of
Xi ZhongxunXi Zhongxun was a communist revolutionary and a State Councillor of the People's Republic of China. He is considered to be among the first generation of Chinese leadership.-Biography:...
(习仲勋), and Deng Pufang, eldest son of
Deng XiaopingDeng Xiaoping was a prominent Chinese politician, statesman, theorist, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng became a reformer who led China towards market economics...
, were narrowly elected as alternate members of the Central Commission of the CCP, but were listed on the tailend.
Bo XilaiBo Xilai , is the current CPC Chongqing Committee Secretary, first-in-charge of the Western interior municipality. Between 2004 and November 2007 he was Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China...
, son of
Bo YiboBo Yibo was a Chinese politician and one of the Eight Immortals of the Communist Party of China....
, was unable to get elected as an alternate member.
It is speculated that when
Jiang ZeminJiang Zemin is the "core of the third generation" of Communist Party of China leaders, serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to...
was close to the end of his term for his age, however, he put many members of the Crown Prince Party into important positions to appeal to senior leaders of the CCP as a way to win their support for continuation of his influence. There is a trend of members of Crown Prince Party taking over power step by step. Of these, Yu Zhengsheng (俞正声), son of Huang Jing (黄敬, former mayor of
Tianjin' is the sixth largest city of the People's Republic of China in terms of urban population. Administratively it is one of the four municipalities that have provincial-level status, reporting directly to the central government...
and ex-husband of
Jiang QingJiang Qing was the pseudonym that was used by Chinese leader Mao Zedong's last wife and major Chinese Communist Party power figure. She went by the stage name Lan Ping during her acting career, and was known by various other names during her life...
), already a member of the powerful
politburoPolitburo, from German Politbüro, short for Political Bureau, , is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.- Marxist-Leninist states :...
of the CCP; Wang Qishan (
王歧山 in Chinese), son in law of Yao Yilin (姚依林, former vice premier and member of politburo ), mayor of Beijing;
Xi JinpingXi Jinping is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the country's Vice President, the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Principal of the Central Party School, and the 6th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee,...
, Bo Xilai, Zhou Xiaochuan, son of Zhou Jiannan (周建南, former minister of First Machinery Ministry and Jiang Zemin’s boss), governor of the
PBOCPBOC may refer to:*People's Bank of China - central bank of *PBOC Motorsports Club - motoring association...
, would play more active roles on the central stage of China politics in the near future, which may soon be proved during the 17th National Congress of the CCP.
Famous examples
The following are some of the most famous crown princes:
- Son and daughters of Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a prominent Chinese politician, statesman, theorist, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng became a reformer who led China towards market economics...
: Deng PufangDeng Pufang is the first son of former China's Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. He is mostly known for being crippled by the Red Guards, and becoming a paraplegic. He has since dedicated his life to improving the rights of handicapped people.-Biography:Deng Pufang was born to Deng Xiaoping and...
(邓朴方), chairman of the Handicapped Association; Deng NanDeng Nan is the second daughter of Deng Xiaoping and his third wife Zhuo Lin.She was vice minister of the State Science and Technology Commission of the People's Republic of China ....
(邓楠), former vice minister Science and Technology
- Son of Chen Yun
Chen Yun was one of the most influential leaders of the People's Republic of China and one of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party for almost its entire history. He is also known as Liao Chengyun ; it's unclear whether this was his original name or a pseudonym he used during his...
: Chen Yuan (陈元), governor of the State Development Bank of China
- Son of Bo Yibo
Bo Yibo was a Chinese politician and one of the Eight Immortals of the Communist Party of China....
: Bo XilaiBo Xilai , is the current CPC Chongqing Committee Secretary, first-in-charge of the Western interior municipality. Between 2004 and November 2007 he was Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China...
（薄熙来）, secretary of the CCP of ChongqingChongqing is the largest and most populated municipality of the People's Republic of China's four provincial-level municipalities. It is also the only one of these municipalities in the western region of China...
- Son of Xi Zhongxun
Xi Zhongxun was a communist revolutionary and a State Councillor of the People's Republic of China. He is considered to be among the first generation of Chinese leadership.-Biography:...
: Xi JinpingXi Jinping is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He currently serves as the country's Vice President, the top-ranking member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Principal of the Central Party School, and the 6th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee,...
(习近平）, Vice President
- Son of Zeng Shan
Zeng Shan was a Chinese Communist military commander and security minister. His wife, Deng Liujin, was one of the handful of women to participate in the Long March, and later ran a school for the children of high cadres...
(曾山, former interior minister of CCP): Zeng QinghongZeng Qinghong was the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China from 2003 to 2008. He became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee during the 2002 16th Party Congress...
, former Vice-President of China
- Son of Huang Jing: Yu Zhengsheng
Yu Zhengsheng is the current CPC party chief in Shanghai, China, a post which makes him first-in-charge of China's largest city...
（俞正声）, secretary of the CCP of ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
, member of the politburo
- Son in law of Yao Yilin
Yao Yilin was a deputy Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1983 to 1988, and the country's First Vice Premier from 1988 to 1993. He was born in Hong Kong in 1917, and spent his early years in Guichi, Chizhou, Anhui. Yao joined the Communist Party of China in 1935...
: Wang QishanWang Qishan is a politician in the People's Republic of China who currently serves as the Vice-Premier in charge of economic, energy and financial affairs under premier Wen Jiabao. Previously Wang served in regional positions in Hainan and Beijing...
, Executive Vice Premier
- Son and daughter of Li Peng
Li Peng , was the Premier of the People's Republic of China between 1987 and 1998, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from 1998 to 2003. For much of the 1990s Li was ranked second in the Communist Party of China hierarchy...
(as son of a martyr and adopted by Zhou EnlaiZhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, a member of Crown Prince Party, too):Li XiaopengLi Xiaopeng may refer to:*Li Xiaopeng , Olympic gymnast*Li Xiaopeng , professional soccer player...
(李小鹏), chairman of Huaneng Power Group; Li Xiaolin (李小琳), president of China Power International
- Sons of Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is the "core of the third generation" of Communist Party of China leaders, serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to...
:Jiang MianhengJiang Mianheng is the son of Jiang Zemin, former People's Republic of China president. Mianheng is one of the co-founders of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation , located in Shanghai. Jiang has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Drexel University, where his father went for a...
(江绵恒), vice dean of the Chinese Academy of Science, director of several major SOESOE can stand for:* Special Operations Executive, a British World War II covert military organisation* State-owned enterprise* System of linear equations, in mathematics* Secret of Evermore, a Super Nintendo role-playing game from Squaresoft...
s such as Shanghai Auto, and the real controller of China NetcomChina Netcom, full name China Netcom Group Corporation Limited , abbreviated CNC, was formed in August 1999 by the People's Republic of China government to enable inward investments to build high speed Internet communications in the country...
; Jiang Miankang (江绵康), a major general of the PLAThe acronym PLA may mean:Organizations and groups*People's Liberation Army **People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China*Palestinian Liberation Army*An early name of the Irish National Liberation Army...
- Son of Wang Zhen
Wang Zhen was a Chinese political figure and one of the Eight Immortals of the Communist Party of China.-Early years:Like most Chinese communist leaders, Wang was a commander in his early years...
, Wang Jun (王军) chairman of CITICThe CITIC Group , formerly the China International Trust and Investment Company, is a state-owned investment company of the People's Republic of China, established by Rong Yiren in 1979 with the approval of Deng Xiaoping.-Businesses:Its initial aim was to "attract and utilize foreign capital,...
; Wang Zhi (王之), former chairman of Great Wall Group
- Son of Liu Shaoqi
Liu Shaoqi was a Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and theorist. He was Chairman of the People's Republic of China, China's head of state, from 27 April 1959 to 31 October 1968, during which he implemented policies of economic reconstruction in China...
: Liu Yuan (刘源), lieutenant general of the military police
- Son of He Long
He Long was a Chinese communist military leader. He rose to the rank of Marshal and Vice Premier after the founding of the People's Republic of China.-Early life:He Long was a number of the Tujia ethnic group...
, He Pengfei (贺鹏飞), vice commander of the Chinese Navy, lieutenant general
- Former son-in-law of Liu Huaqing
Liu Huaqing was the Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy from 1982 through 1988, and is considered to be responsible for its modernization efforts....
(刘华清): Pan Yue (潘岳), vice director of the State Environmental Protection Administration
- Son of Chen Yi
Chen Yi or Chen I was a Chinese communist military commander and politician.-Biography:He was born in Lezhi, near Chengdu, Sichuan, into a moderately wealthy magistrate's family....
: Chen Haosu (陈昊苏), former vice minister of the Ministry of Culture
In a publication, 226 crown princes were listed (see link below).
External links