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Nomenclature arrangement for Chinese government bodies From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"One institution with two names" (Chinese: 一个机构两块牌子; pinyin: yīgè jīgòu liǎng kuài páizi; lit. 'one agency two signs') is a bureaucratic arrangement in the Chinese government wherein a government agency exists in name only, and its functions are in practice performed by another agency or a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization, so that in effect one institution has two or more governmental brands to use selectively for political, historical, or bureaucratic reasons. This type of arrangement was historically common until the mid-1980s, but has been extensively revived by reforms which began in 2017.[1][2][3]
Generally, the purpose of retaining the name of the state institution is so that the party institution has the option of using it where it may be legally or aesthetically appropriate. For example, one name can be used domestically and another used when dealing with institutions outside China. The arrangement can be achieved by either "adding a name" (加挂牌子; jiā guà páizi) or "externally retaining a name" (对外保留牌子; duìwài bǎoliú páizi).[2] The arrangement is also sometimes referred to as "one institution, two brands."[4]
Within Chinese bureaucratic nomenclature, "one institution with two names" is distinct from "co-located offices" (Chinese: 合署办公; pinyin: héshǔ bàngōng). In the latter situation, two institutions or agencies retain their distinct structure and personnel, and only share office spaces and physical resources.
An organization can acquire an additional name when it is responsible for multiple duties or uses an additional name when dealing with foreign institutions. This happens when two institutions or offices merged, with the original institution taking on the responsibilities and duties of the merged office by using only its existing resources.[5] Such organizations usually do not have separate leadership or staff because of additional names.[2]
"Externally retaining a name" is when an organization that has absorbed another can continue to use said organization's name for bureaucratic purposes. For example, the United Front Work Department (UFWD) (a communist party institution) uses the name of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) (a state institution), which it absorbed in 2018, when making statements related to overseas Chinese affairs.[2][6][7] In this case, the organization may have a separate nominal leadership team for the nominal organization, that concurrently can also serve in the leadership of the bigger organization (e.g. Chen Xu both officially serves as the director of the OCAO and a deputy head of the UFWD). In some cases, the nominal organization can seemingly retain their internal structures (e.g. the China National Space Administration seemingly has a large internal structure and is a retained name for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology).[2]
According to scholar Anne-Marie Brady, the State Council Information Office is an example of a "public face" for "foreign propaganda work" of the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.[8]
Chinese public universities' internal CCP committee and the universities' office of the president increasingly operate as one institution with two names.[4]
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