The Inner Court of Communist China: Elites and Their Bureaucratic Institutions in an Authoritarian System (1921-2022)

This book discusses the mishu (staff member, secretary) system and the operation of the Chinese Communist Party between 1921 and 2022, focusing on the system’s impact on high-level politics and decision-making during four key periods.

Wen-Hsuan Tsai is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica (Taiwan). His main research is on Chinese political development, and authoritarian regimes. Tsai has published many articles in The China Journal, The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, and other journals in English and Chinese. In addition to publishing this book with Amsterdam University Press, he also has another monograph entitled A Tight Grip: State Power and Control in Modern China (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2024).