A state councillor () is a high-ranking position within the State Council, the executive organ of the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...

(comparable to a

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

). It ranks immediately below the Vice-Premiers and above the ministers of various departments. Similar to minister without portfolio, the position carries duties unspecified at the time of appointment, although state councillor may also be appointed to head a department. The position was created during the May 1982 restructuring of the State Council, when eleven state councillors were appointed, ten of whom were vice premiers until then.

Role

In theory, state councillors are to assist the Premier and Vice-Premiers to oversee various government portfolios. They can also represent the State Council (and in turn, Government of China) on foreign visits. State councillors are part of a Standing Meeting of the State Council, alongside the Premier, Vice-Premiers, and the Secretary General of the State Council. The organ holds weekly meetings. In practice, a state councillor's portfolios can be very wide-ranging. State councillors often accompany China's higher dignitaries on trips abroad - as was the case with State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan from 2003–2008, and Dai Bingguo from 2008–2013. Dai also became China's representative at the 2009 G8 summit in Italy when President Hu Jintao decided to cut short his attendance to return to China in order to deal with the July 2009 Ürümqi riots.

List of state councillors

; 5th State Council (1982–1983) The position was created during the May 1982 restructuring of the State Council. Eleven state councillors were appointed, ten of whom were vice premiers until then, the only exception being

Zhang Jingfu Zhang Jingfu or Zhang Jinfu (; 6 June 1914 – 31 July 2015) was a politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as Governor and Communist Party Secretary of Anhui province, Minister of Finance, and State Councilor of the 5th and 6th St ...

. #

Yu Qiuli Yu Qiuli (; 15 November 1914 – 3 February 1999) was a Chinese Communist army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. A veteran of the Long March, he held top military and government positions under both Mao Zedong and D ...

Geng Biao Geng Biao (; 26 August 1909 – 23 June 2000) was a senior official in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a leader in Chinese politics, foreign relations and military. Early life Geng was born in Liling, Hunan Province of China. In 1922 ...

# Fang Yi #

Gu Mu Gu Mu (; September 1914 – November 6, 2009) was a Chinese revolutionary figure and politician, who served as the Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China between 1975 and 1982. As one of Deng Xiaoping's main aides in charge of economic m ...

# Kang Shi'en #

Chen Muhua Chen Muhua (; 1921 – 12 May 2011) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician who served as Vice Premier, State Councilor, Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, Commissioner of the National Family Planning Commission, Go ...

Bo Yibo Bo Yibo (; 17 February 1908 – 15 January 2007) was a Chinese politician. He was one of the most senior political figures in China during the 1980s and 1990s. After joining the Chinese Communist Party when he was 17, he worked as a Communist P ...

Ji Pengfei Ji Pengfei ( simplified Chinese: 姬鹏飞; traditional Chinese: 姬鵬飛; pinyin: ''Jī Péngfēi''; February 2, 1910 – February 10, 2000) was a Chinese politician. Biography Ji Pengfei was born in Linyi, Yuncheng, Shanxi in 1910. He joined ...

# Huang Hua #

Zhang Aiping Zhang Aiping (; born January 9, 1910 in Da County, Sichuan; died July 5, 2003 in Beijing) was a Chinese military leader. Biography Zhang joined the Communist Party of China in 1928 after taking part in a communist-led rural uprising. He partic ...

; 6th State Council (1983–1988) # Fang Yi #

# Kang Shi'en #

# Wu Xueqian #

Wang Bingqian Wang Bingqian (; born June 1925) is a politician of the People's Republic of China and a former Minister of Finance of China. Born in Li County, Hebei, Wang joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in January 1940. Wang was a member of the 13 ...

Song Ping Song Ping (; born 30 April 1917) is a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a retired high-ranking politician. He was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, which effectively rules China, and is considered th ...

Song Jian Song Jian (; born 29 December 1931) is a Chinese aerospace engineer, demographer, and politician. He was deputy chief designer of China's submarine-launched ballistic missile (JL-1) and one of the country's leading scientists in the post-Cultura ...

; 7th State Council (1988–1993) # Li Tieying #

Qin Jiwei Qin Jiwei (; 16 November 1914 – 2 February 1997) was a general of the People's Republic of China, Minister of National Defense and a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo. Qin Jiwei was born to a poor peasant family in Huang'an (now ...

# Wang Fang # Zou Jiahua # Li Guixian # Chen Xitong #

Chen Junsheng Chen Junsheng (; June 1927 – 8 August 2002) was a Chinese politician. As a provincial official in Heilongjiang in the early 1980s, he distinguished himself as an advocate of the household responsibility system, resulting in the implementation o ...

# Qian Qichen ; 8th State Council (1993–1998) # Li Tieying #

Chi Haotian Chi Haotian (; born 9 July 1929), also spelled as Chih Hao-tien, is a retired general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. He served as Minister of National Defence from 1993 to 2003. Biography Chi was born 9 July 1929 in Zhaoyuan, Sha ...

# Li Guixian #

Ismail Amat Ismail Amat ( ug, ئىسمائىل ئەھمەد, translit=Isma'il Ehmet; zh , s = 司马义·艾买提 , p = Sīmǎyì Àimǎití ; September 1935 – 16 October 2018) was a Chinese politician of Uyghur ethnicity who served as Chairman (Governor ...

Peng Peiyun Peng Peiyun ( Simplified Chinese: 彭珮云; born 1929 at Liuyang, Hunan Province, China) is a Chinese politician. Biography Peng was admitted to the National Southwestern Associated University at 15. She graduated from Qinghua University a ...

# Luo Gan - Secretary-General of the State Council ; 9th State Council (1998–2003) #

# Luo Gan #

# Wu Yi # Wang Zhongyu - Secretary-General of the State Council ; 10th State Council (2003–2008) ; 11th State Council (2008–2013) ; 12th State Council (2013–2018) NPC endorses new cabinet lineup
/ref> ; 13th State Council (2018–2023)

References

External links

{{People's Republic of China politics