Policing in the People’s Republic of China: The Road to Reform in the 1990s
Author(s)
Wong, Kam C.
Abstract
Under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms, China has been transformed from a backward state-planned economy into a modern market-driven one. The economic reform has changed China socially, politically, and culturally. The ‘gongan’ or public security has been a part of that transformation process. During the last 13 years (1978-2001), the public security apparatus has changed its role and functions, core values, leadership, organization structure and process, management philosophy and operational procedures and practices. This article reviews recent public security reform measures and change process, focusing on developments in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was the ‘radical reform’ period, leading up to the Police Law of 1995.
