Political Systems China and USA

Why do Chinese political leaders have engineering degrees whereas their American counterparts have law degrees?

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Why do Chinese political leaders have engineering degrees whereas their American counterparts have law degrees?

Kaiser Kuo, Doing Life in Beijing ... 527 upvotes by Charlie Cheever, Shannon Larson, Xianhang Zhang, (more)

Great question, and one that gets at the heart of the political cultures of these two countries. It happens that I did my graduate work--including an abortive dissertation that never got beyond a rambling proposal--on the rise of technocracy in post-Mao China.

That China is heavily technocratic is well established: see the work of Li Cheng (Cheng Li) and Lynn White (1990), 'Elite Transformation and Modern Change in Mainland China and Taiwan: Empirical Data and the Theory of Technocracy' and other studies by Cheng, which demonstrate the rather astonishing extent to which the Chinese political elite is dominated by technocrats. The authors looked at mayors and Party secretaries of cities of over a million (of which there are today some 165); governors and provincial Party secretaries of China's provinces, autonomous regions, and province-level municipalities; and Central Committee members, and found that by the time of writing there were already more than 80% technocrats (that is, putative or actual office holders with four-year degrees or more in the natural sciences or engineering). Just look at recent politburo Standing Committee membership: In the last two Standing Committees, I believe all but 1 were all engineers.

This was deliberate policy, quite consciously borrowed from Singapore (and to a lesser extent, South Korea, Malaysia, even Taiwan) beginning in the very early 1980s as part of a 'Neo-Authoritarian' or 'Soft Authoritarian' developmental model that many Chinese political elites believed was to be credited for the rapid rise of the Asian Tigers. Deng sought to replace the 'Reds' (i.e., people in power whose positions derived from ideological purity or good (worker, peasant) class background) with the 'Experts'--often, Soviet-trained scientists and engineers who had enjoyed a brief ascendancy during the period of Mao's eclipse from 1961 to 1965. He purged the Party of Reds and actually laid out quotas, calling for X percent college-educated cadres by such-and-such a date. During the 1980s, many Chinese intellectuals embraced the technocratic idea, including many scientists and social scientists who would, by decade's end, emerge as very prominent critics of the Chinese Communist Party, like the dissident astrophysicist Fang Lizhi, one of the 'black hands' who the Party vilified as puppet-master of the 1989 student-led protests. More typical perhaps was the late Qian Xuesen, an MIT-educated rocket scientist who returned to his native China to head the Chinese rocketry program. An avid supporter of technocracy, Qian even said that he believed governments should be run essentially like an engineering department. The notion that economic, social, and even fundamentally political problems could be approached with an engineer's problem-solving mentality seemed somehow to resonate in China, and was largely unchallenged.

I'm greatly oversimplifying here, but I believe that in a country like China, where the notion that a knowledge elite should run the show is deeply ingrained, technocracy was somehow a natural fit with the political culture. Mengzi (Mencius, the most famous of Confucius's followers) once said, 'Let those who labor with their heads rule those who labor with their hands.' But it goes back earlier than the 4th-3rd century BCE when he lived: In China's first well-attested historical dynasty, the Shang, a shamanic priesthood whose power was built on oracular divination and communing with ancestor spirits held power, and technology such as it was--bronze casting, scapulamancy and plastromancy--was dominated by that priestly caste. In imperial times, from roughly 60 years into the Han (206 BCE to CE 220) through the Qing's collapse in the early 20th century, a class of scholar-officials with whose elite status was predicated on the 'truths' contained in the Confucian canon and certified by passing a series of civil service exams ruled China, with of course some not insignificant interruptions.

With the end of the exam system and the repudiation of Confucianism by the intelligentsia of the early 20th century, there was an effort to supplant the 'truths' of the old order with new, scientific (perhaps more accurately, scientistic) truths. Part of this explains the embrace of the 'scientific' theories of Marxist dialectical materialism that made Communism popular. Even the paroxysms of Mao's Cultural Revolution--the spasmodic violence, the complete upheaval and turbulence--only attests to how deeply rooted this political privilege accorded to knowledge elites has been in the Chinese political culture.

Turning to the U.S., to me it seems equally natural that lawyers should dominate the political elite in a country built on rule of law, checks and balances (an independent judiciary, for instance), and a fundamentally adversarial concept of politics. It's really been in the American DNA since the founding of the country. John Adams was of course a lawyer, and despite his dedication to the cause of independence even defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. James Madison wasn't a lawyer, though he clearly had aspired to be one (though he never gained admission to the bar). It's hard for me to imagine how the U.S. could be any other way.

Enough for now! Again, fascinating question and one that deserves book-length treatment!

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Joseph Wang Joseph Wang 3 votes (show) It's also one that has radically changed. The current Xi-Li Politiburo is dominated by lawyers and not engineers. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 5 Jan, 2014 Kaiser Kuo: Yes, absolutely, it's amazing how qui...

Steve Hammill Steve Hammill 6 votes (show) Maybe the answer is simpler than all of the intellectual discussion. Perhaps the Chinese recognize that if you want to get something done you employ engineers to avoid spinning their wheels in BS with lawyers. I don't mean to be flippant, but the lawyer's monopoly in the the US government is creating havoc. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 5 Jul, 2014

Manan Shah Manan Shah 6 votes (show) FYI. The exceptions are Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter were two American presidents who were also engineers! The Economist also ran a very interesting article on this. There was a lawyer, an engineer and a politician... Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 12 Feb, 2013

Paul Denlinger Paul Denlinger 1 vote by Rupert Baines I thought you'd like that question ;-) Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 2 Dec, 2010 Craig Montuori: Wow, very impressive!

JJ Sutherland JJ Sutherland 1 vote by C.J. Matlak Awesome answer. Question though, from my admittedly uninformed view, it looks like corruption has taken hold firmly among the Chinese ruling class (am not saying it has not elsewhere, just talking about China). Do you think there was an increase or decrease of corruption as ideological purity faded in the leadership class? Or was it just opportunity and it doesn't matter if they were lawyers or engineers? Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 5 Mar, 2014 Kaiser Kuo: You raise a very good question but I'...

Donald Macleay Donald Macleay 2 votes (show) In the old Soviet days, this was the case in Russia too that an engineer degree was a first rung on the ladder. What is the most common degree held by the top brass in the US corporate structures? Engineer might rank pretty high along with an MBA. I think engineering is very offered at top military colleges. Maybe the question is how did OUR country end up run mostly by lawyer with money? Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 27 Oct

Chris Jeffords Chris Jeffords 1 vote by David Jones Because, in this country, having a law degree is how you get into politics, In China, you get into politics by being a loyal member of the Communist Party. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 7 Jul

Michael Craig Michael Craig 1 vote by Nirmal Iyengar Reminds me of a joke I tell. What's the worst thing about smily faced sales people(or lawers)? Answer: we elect them. Most people don't want to hear the truth so they levitate to the person who's tells the lye they want to hear. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 18 Nov

Niall Clugston Niall Clugston This parallels the Soviet Union where engineers were very prominent, most notably Brezhnev. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 31 Aug

Douglas Ungredda Douglas Ungredda And it seems that the ruling technocracy legislates by distretion and political expediency. This determines how court verdicts are issued.When a public figure is disgraced it is doubtful that an innocent verdict might be issued, Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 18 Aug

Harry Zhang Harry Zhang What does 'let those who labor with their heads rule those who labor with their hands ' say in Chinese ?I'm sorry I don't remember that mengzi said this . Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 4 Mar, 2014 Yuanhang Cui: I guess it should be 'lao xin zhe zhi ...

Ansgar Diekmann Ansgar Diekmann It should be observed that there is a tendency to consider a degree in political science, i.e. achieved in Russia or North Korea with a law degree. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 8 Dec

Michael Fang Michael Fang too long Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 9 May, 2014

Jenny Yoeng Jenny Yoeng Maybe American people needs representative more than leader:) Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 2 Mar, 2014

Andrew Bransford Brown Andrew Bransford Brown Not the right answer entirely, but you should republish and expound upon that as a book. Or have someone transcribe it. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 31 Dec

Dean Allen Dean Allen Jimmy Carter had a degree in nuclear engineering and was a US Naval officer who worked on nuclear reactors before he became Governor of Georgia. Upvote • Downvote • Share • Report • 27 Oct