Civil service grades of China
The civil service grades of China determine the salaries received by both civil and military public servants. The scale has 25 grades in total.
Relationship with appointment
Chinese law establishes four kinds of appointment procedures:
- Special appointment (特任), only for elected or ministerial officials whose tenures are not guaranteed.
- Direct appointment (簡任), selected with approval of the central or central and provincial cabinet.
- Recommended appointment (薦任), appointed at the recommendation of the head of agency.
- Devolved appointment (委任), appointed by head of agency.
The rationale for separate appointment procedures is to ensure that roles demanding policy development and interpretation abilities will be filled at a higher level where such abilities are more visible and relevant. These roles often but do not always co-incide with seniority in management or supervision. Additionally, if all positions are controlled from above, lower-ranking executives may face difficulty with stagnant staffing options.
| Grade | Possible appointments | Position | Salary pts | Military rank | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Special | Cabinet | Cabinet Secretary | 800 | ||||
| 2 | Ordinary Deputy Secretary | 600 | ||||||
| 3 | Divisional Secretary | 480 | General | |||||
| 4 | Approval | Director-general (C); Chief Statistician (A) | 420 | Lieutenant-general | ||||
| 5 | Deputy Divisional Secretary (C), Senior inspector (A) | 360 | Major-general | |||||
| 6 | Policy Advisor (C) | 320 | Brigadier-general | |||||
| 7 | Discretion | Special Commissioner (C), County Secretary (D) | 290 | Colonel | ||||
| 8 | Secretary (C) | 260 | Lieutenant-colonel | |||||
| 9 | Office Chief (A) | 230 | Major | |||||
| 10 | Secretary (A) | 210 | Captain | |||||
| 11 | Deputy Office Chief (A) | 190 | Lieutenant | |||||
| 12 | Senior supervisor (A) | 170 | Ensign | |||||
| 13 | Supervisor (A) | 150 | Warrant Officer I | |||||
| 14 | Senior specialist (A) | 130 | Warrant Officer II | |||||
| 15 | Specialist (A), Secretary (D) | 115 | Warrant Officer III | |||||
| 16 | Recording officer-in-charge | 100 | Sergeant-major I | |||||
| 17 | Senior recording officer | 90 | Sergeant-major II | |||||
| 18 | Recording officer | 80 | Sergeant-major III | |||||
| 19 | Temporary | Tenure-based | 72 | N/A | ||||
| 20 | 64 | |||||||
| 21 | 56 | |||||||
| 22 | 50 | |||||||
| 23 | 45 | |||||||
| 24 | 42 | |||||||
| 25 | 40 | |||||||
Relationship with testing
China maintains a rigorous system of examinations that grades public service candidates according to their aptitude for office at certain grades. The Examination Act classifies civil service examinations as follows:
| Exam level | Eligibility | Education qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Higher Exam I | C8 | Higher Exam II qualified |
| Higher Exam II | A10 | Doctorate or Master's degree or equivalent experience |
| Higher Exam III | A13 | Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience |
| Standard Exam | D13 | Senior high school or equivalent experience |
| Basic Exam | D18 | N/A |