China Princes of Privilege

By John Greenwald

When Li Shuchang became a Communist Party chief in the northeastern town of Yingkou, his family quickly prospered. Li named a son to be deputy director of the local industry and commerce bureau. Li's son-in-law became deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League, and his daughter rose from typist to police-department junior official. But when more than a dozen cousins and other clan members also gained influential posts, outraged city leaders acted. They sacked Li last month, suspended his party membership, and warned all local party members to take heed of his example.

Li's fall reflects the latest Chinese attack on the ancient bureaucratic practice of dispensing jobs and favors to friends and family members. After flourishing for centuries of imperial rule, nepotism still thrives under avowedly classless Communism. Known as taizi pai, or the princes' faction, the children of leaders attend the best schools, get the best jobs and are allowed to travel abroad. "They are always one step ahead of the pack," complains a Peking University graduate student. The privileged range from Vice Premier Li Peng, 59, the adopted son of the late Premier Chou En-lai, to junior officials throughout the country.

Such advantages for the few have stirred outrage among the many. Leaders from Mao Tse-tung to Deng Xiaoping have decried nepotism and launched campaigns to end it. When student protesters called for democratic reforms last winter, they made equal opportunity a key demand. Scandalized party elders complain that in recent years some taizi pai members have committed crimes, including murder, and then used their influence to escape punishment. Last spring veteran Army Marshal Nie Rongzhen warned in a widely discussed public letter of "public indignation" over these unfair practices. "Those who were unsuitably promoted should be either demoted or fired," he declared. "Those who committed outrages should be either jailed or executed. We should show no mercy."

Nepotism looms especially large as China prepares to name a new generation of leaders. Those moving up on the fast track include Li Tieying, 50, a likely Politburo member whose father was a Communist Party founder, and Ye Xuanping, 62, the governor of Guangdong province and son of the late Marshal Ye Jianying. Their defenders argue that such leaders should not be barred from advancement merely because they happen to be well connected. "An unqualified person should not be appointed simply because his father is a high official," says Tianjin Mayor Li Ruihuan. "Nor should one be denied promotion simply because his father is a high official."

The issue will come to a head next month when the 13th Communist Party Congress meets to select the country's top leaders. In secret ballots last month, grass-roots party members reportedly rejected several prominent taizi pai as delegates. Among them: Chen Yuan, the son of Politburo Member Chen Yun and a member of the standing committee of the Peking Municipal Party, and Chen Haosu, Vice Minister of Radio, Film and Television and son of the late Marshal Chen Yi. Yet neither is finished in politics. Insiders expect Chen Yuan to be named Deputy Party Secretary in Peking, while Chen Haosu is likely to be elected to the Central Committee at the upcoming Congress. "They don't have to be party delegates to move on," says a Peking intellectual. "It all depends on what the old men say."

The elders will have much to discuss when the 13th Congress convenes. Paramount Leader Deng is expected to relinquish two of his three top posts, including chairmanship of the Central Advisory Commission, a council of party senior statesmen. Deng, 83, will keep full control of the army and remain China's top leader. Premier Zhao Ziyang, 68, is to be installed as party General Secretary, a post he has been filling on an acting basis. Zhao, however, will have to give up the premiership. Vice Premier Li Peng is favored to succeed him. While it would not confirm the changes, China's official Xinhua news agency noted that the average age of China's leaders will be "reduced considerably" by the Congress. The princes' faction will undoubtedly be part of that youth movement.

With reporting by Jaime A. FlorCruz/Peking