Appendix B Note on sources and research methods
This book draws on three major sources: interviews, documents, and survey data. Over the course of 14 months of fieldwork in China from 2006 to 2011, I conducted 236 interviews with party and state officials on the topic of cadre training. To understand organizational change at various administrative levels and across locales with very different economies, interviews were focused in Beijing (central government), a coastal Province A, an inland Province B, and a special economic zone (SEZ). Interview sites included party schools, administrative institutes, socialism institutes, Communist Youth League schools, universities, and party and government organs from the central to township administrative levels. Basic demographic information about interviewees is summarized in the tables below. To protect the identity of Chinese interviewees, I have cited interviews by interview number and date. Some contacts agreed to be interviewed more than once to answer follow-up questions. When appropriate, I have also noted the occupation or station of the interviewee. To compare across sub-provincial localities, I conducted interviews at the provincial capitals of Provinces A and B, at least one city-level jurisdiction, and at least one county-level jurisdiction in each province.
During the early stages of this project, I conducted preliminary research at sites in two coastal and two inland provinces. These initial visits were intended to assess the quality of access to schools and officials. I ultimately focused on two provinces, one from each region, and the decision was driven by practical data collection considerations. There is, however, some basis for the selection of the two provinces, which are the subject of case studies in Chapters 4 and 5. Both provinces are average with respect to the sizes of their general and leading cadre populations (Figures 1 to 6). However, they are both economic high performers within their regions, which may bias the findings presented here in favor of a more optimistic general assessment. Cities and counties within each province were also selected nonrandomly.
In addition to field interviews, I collected published and unpublished documents during site visits, through library searches in China, and from government Internet sites. When visiting party schools, for example, I asked interviewees for copies of training syllabi and training materials. Additional data were available online. Central Party School yearbooks, Central Organization Department publications, newspaper articles in Chinese and English, and online biographies were all valuable resources for constructing an understanding of the institutional lay of the land, system-wide changes, and local experiences. Mainland libraries consulted include the National Library of China, the libraries of Tsinghua and Peking universities, and the University Services Centre Library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In constructing career histories of Central Party School alumni, I relied most heavily on publicly available official biographies.
Table B.1 Administrative level of interviewees
| Administrative level | N | % |
|---|---|---|
| Township | 12 | 5.08 |
| County | 38 | 16.10 |
| City | 58 | 24.58 |
| Province | 60 | 25.42 |
| Central | 68 | 28.81 |
| Total | 236 | 100 |
Table B.2 Interviewee type
| Occupation | N |
|---|---|
| Cadre | 177 |
| Party school teacher | 90 |
| Part-time party school teacher | 20 |
| Party school student, part- or full-time | 32 |
| Party school trainee | 78 |
Note: These are nonexclusive categories. For example, some interviewees were both trainees and students at some point, or some party school teachers were also administrators.
Table B.3 Interviewee gender
| N | % | |
|---|---|---|
| Male | 166 | 70.34 |
| Female | 70 | 29.66 |
| Total | 236 | 100 |
Finally, statistical data were obtained from official government and party yearbooks and the 2003 China General Social Survey.
Figure B.1 Cadre population and GDP per capita, coastal region
Figure B.2 Cadre population and GDP per capita, central region
Figure B.3 Leading cadre population and GDP per capita, coastal region
Figure B.4 Leading cadre population and GDP per capita, central region
Figure B.5 Leading cadre population and GDP per capita, all regions
Figure B.6 Cadre population and GDP per capita, all regions
