Nomenclature arrangement for Chinese government bodies
The entrance to the former office building of the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau (上海市文化和旅游局), with additional signs of the "Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Cultural Relics" (上海市文物局), "Shanghai Radio and Television Bureau" (上海市广播电视局) and "Shanghai Cultural Relics Management Committee" (上海市文物管理委员会) name plates can be seen.
"One institution with two names" (Chinese: 一个机构两块牌子; pinyin: yīgè jīgòu liǎng kuài páizi; lit. 'one agency two signs') is a bureaucratic arrangement in the Chinese government wherein a government agency exists in name only, and its functions are in practice performed by another agency or a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization, so that in effect one institution has two or more governmental brands or trade names to use selectively for political, historical, or bureaucratic reasons. This type of arrangement was historically common until the mid–1980s, but has been extensively revived by reforms which began in 2017.[1][2][3]
Generally, the purpose of retaining the name of the state institution is so that the party institution has the option of using it where it may be legally or aesthetically appropriate. For example, one name can be used domestically and another used when dealing with institutions outside China. The arrangement can be achieved by either "adding a name" (加挂牌子; jiā guà páizi) or "externally reserving a name" (对外保留牌子; duìwài bǎoliú páizi).[2] The arrangement is also sometimes referred to as "one institution, two brands."[4]
Within Chinese bureaucratic nomenclature, "one institution with two names" is distinct from "co-located offices" (Chinese: 合署办公; pinyin: héshǔ bàngōng). In the latter situation, two institutions or agencies retain their distinct structure and personnel, and only share office spaces and physical resources.
Adding a name
An organization can acquire an additional name when it is responsible for multiple duties or uses an additional name when dealing with foreign institutions. Such organizations usually do not have separate leadership or staff because of additional names.[2]
Externally reserving a name
"Externally reserving a name" is when an organization that has absorbed another can continue to use said organization's name for bureaucratic purposes. For example, the United Front Work Department (UFWD) (a communist party institution) uses the name of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) (a state institution), which it absorbed in 2018, when making statements related to overseas Chinese affairs.[2][5][6] In this case, the organization may have a separate nominal leadership team for the reserved name organization, that concurrently can also serve in the leadership of the bigger organization (e.g. Chen Xu both officially serves as the director of the OCAO and a deputy head of the UFWD). In some cases, the reserved name organization can seemingly retain their internal structures (e.g. the China National Space Administration seemingly has a large internal structure and is a reserved name for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology).[2]
Chinese public universities' internal CCP committee and the universities' office of the president increasingly operate as one institution with two names.[4]
^ abcde"〔独家约稿〕国务院机构改革方案通过！"对外保留牌子"的行政法内涵及机构设置法律实践" [[Exclusive Commission] The State Council's Institutional Reform Plan Approved! The Administrative Law Connotation of "Retaining Names Externally" and the Legal Practice of Institutional Establishment]. Phoenix TV (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
