In the field of public administration practice, China has a history of several thousand years, whereas the United States has a much shorter history of hundreds of years of governance. In terms of the scholarly development of public administration in China, the roots of those intellectual resources can be traced far back, to Confucius’s ideology of governance and the ancient development of a civil service system some 2,000 years ago. In terms of the systematic development of public administration as an independent subject of learning, however, the United States has been a leader worldwide. Public administration as a discipline in the United States dates back to the late nineteenth century, with extensive scholarly research and publications in the early twentieth century (Follett 1926; Goodnow 1900; Taylor 1912; Weber 1922; White 1926). In the Chinese context, although there were occasional studies of public administration in the first half of the twentieth century, systematic study was deferred until the middle of the 1980s. They were only truly continued following the official launch of master of public administration degree programs at the beginning of the twenty‐first century. In this respect, China was a latecomer, and Chinese scholars almost always date the study and scholarship in this field to about 1980. Over the past eighty years or so, the United States has established more than 200 MPA and related programs, while China has founded 100 MPA programs in just the past eight years. Recognizing the urgent need for MPA training, China is trying to catch up to the demand for social development and societal transition. Considering that China has a population of 1.3 billion, compared to a population of 300 million in the United States, it looks as if there is great potential for China to expand its MPA programs.

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Examines recent reform initiatives in the PRC compared with advanced industralised democracies, searching for common attributes in order to establish, if possible, global patterns in such administrative reform initiatives. Reviewing these issues, admits that administrative reform, along with all other matters, is decided by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Details the history of Chinese administrative reform since the early 1950s. Asks, in conclusion, whether reform initiatives in the PRC are similar to those elsewhere. The PRC clearly differs in this from the principles of the New Public Management (NPM). However, with global economic competition and the increasingly free dissemination of ideas the PRC may find it hard to resist reform. Even so, administrative reforms borrowed from elsewhere will invariably be influenced by Chinese ethnocentric characteristics.

An introduction.

To compare administrative reform in one of the world’s most ancient civilizations and in one of the world’s “youngest countries” produces some surprises. Administrative reforms in both countries are similar, but occur at different periods of history. Mengzhong Zhang of the University of Maryland at College Park discovers that some of China’s recent reform efforts resemble historic efforts in the United States up to half a century ago. Other components of administrative reform in China reflect contemporary practices in the United States. This phenomenon reflects convergence, rather than divergence.