Factional Politics in the CPC: A Case Study of the Rise and Fall of Li Qinglin

The interpretation of the CPC elite politics in terms of factionalism or informal politics is well recognised. The effects on ordinary citizens at the grassroots level of the authoritarian nature of the Chinese political system is also well documented. Although factionalism, informal politics and the authoritarian nature of CPC politics have been demonstrated and analysed extensively, most of the scholarship focuses on the description of politics at the elite level and often is couched in abstract terms. Moreover, each of the three features of CPC politics is analysed and interpreted separately. This paper, therefore, aims to cast light on three areas: first, interaction among factionalism, informalism and authoritarianism and a mechanism by which these three features work together to produce a combined effect in Chinese politics; second, a connection between elite politics and local politics; and third, how the combination has had devastating effects on individual players who are not at the elite level.