Abstract: The institutionalized stratification between officials and staff in imperial China has its continuity and transformation in modern Chinese state bureaucracy. One example is the compartmentalization of three groups in Chinese bureaucracy: bureaucrats, derivative staff, and employed staff. This “three-group” structure is more in the same spirit with “stratification between officials and staff” than “stratification at different levels”, the two cornerstones of imperial local and grassroots governance as discussed in Xueguang Zhou's works. Under the inflexible “personnel quota” system, bureaucrats and derived staff are a constant in the structure while employed staff is a changeable variable. The difference among three groups resembles the difference between officials and staff in imperial China. The bureaucrats and derivative staff are elites or cadres sorted through the system of stratification at different levels and they are the key players in local governance in today's China. In addition to its historical root, this “three-group” structure is a result of the interaction between the “visible hand” of the state and the “invisible hand” of market. People who belong to the first two group are not only “rational men” but also men driven by their political mission and commitment. This explains the phenomenon of “mobile officials” and “immobile staff”, thus is a complement both to Zhou's “stratification at different levels” and to the so-called “tournament model”. We hope this study provides an important theoretical perspective for understanding contemporary China's transition and rise.

Key words: tripartite compart-mentalization, derived group, employed group, mission politics, stratification between officers and staff, bureaucratic group