Grades of the armed forces of China

The organization of the armed forces of the People's Republic of China is based on grades. Each institution, billet, and officer has a grade. Personnel grades flow from the institution's grade. For example, the grade of a unit commander billet is the same as the unit's, and the officer in that billet receives that grade. Historically, grade, rather than rank, determined or indicated an officer's authority, and various professional and career factors.

Hierarchy
Grades determine the command hierarchy from the Central Military Commission (CMC) to the platoon level. Since 1988, all institutions, billets, and officers in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the People's Armed Police (PAP) have a grade. Entities command lower-graded entities, and coordinate with like-graded entities. An institution shares its grade with its leading officers, and all sub-ordinate institutions and officers have lower grades. Under the dual-command structure, an institution's military commanding officer and political officer have the same grade.

Civil–military relations within the wider state bureaucracy is also influenced by grades. The grading systems used by the armed forces and the government are parallel, making it easier for military entities to identify the civilian entities they should coordinate with.

Personnel management
An officer's authority, eligibility for billets, pay, and retirement age is determined by grade ("position grade". ) Career progression includes lateral transfers between billets of the same grade, but which are not considered promotions. An officer retiring to the civil service has their grade translated to the civil grade system; their grade continues to progress and draw retirement benefits through the civil system rather than the armed forces.

Historically, personnel grade — or position — was more important than rank. Historically, time-in-grade and time-in-rank requirements and promotions were not synchronized; multiple ranks were present in each grade with all having the same authority. Rank was mainly a visual aid to roughly determine relative position when interacting with Chinese and foreign personnel. PLA etiquette preferred addressing personnel by position rather than by rank. Reforms to a more rank-centric system began in 2021. In 2023, a revised grade structure associated one rank per grade, with some ranks spanning multiple grades.

Civilians
The highest grade is CMC chairman; the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, a civilian, is the CMC's chair which makes them the armed forces' representative in the Politburo Standing Committee, the country's ruling body. Civilian CMC members have personnel grades but do not have military ranks. During the drafting of the 1988 system, Deng Xiaoping - then CMC chairman - refused the rank of (depending on the report) marshal or "first class general"; first class general was the highest rank under the 1988 system and intended for the top leadership. The practice of an unranked CMC chairman was formalized in 1994 and the rank of first class general was abolished.

Early systems
The Chinese Red Army, and the later PLA, did not use grades or during the Chinese Civil War. Personnel were addressed by job titles. Ranks — based on the Kuomintang system — were used by parts of the army from 1937 to 1946; this was not official Chinese Communist Party policy. A 21-grade system was adopted in 1952. In 1955, this changed to 20 grades with 15 Soviet-based ranks; the ranks were abolished in 1965. The number of grades changed to 27 in 1965, 23 in 1972, and 18 in 1979; the 1965 and 1972 changes were based on the State Administrative Grade System.

1988 reforms
The 1988 system had 15 grades and 10 ranks. The grades paralleled the civil grade system. The system had a many-to-many relationship between grades and ranks because grade and rank promotions were unsynchronized. From 1988 to 1994, there were three ranks per grade; by 2021 there were two ranks per grade. A rank could also appear across grades; for example, major general could appear from division leader to military region deputy leader.

The vague relationship between grades and ranks was not the only problem. Further difficulties appeared with the 2015 military reforms - particularly the operational reorganization around theater commands - and the disruption of career paths with the conversion of many divisions and regiments into brigades.

Theater command leader and theater command deputy leader replaced military region leader and military region deputy leader respectively. Brigade leader and deputy brigade leader were also added; they may have been equivalent to division leader and deputy division leader in 2016 and then deputy division leader and regiment leader in 2020.

2021 reforms
Changing to a rank-centric system was being considered by 2016 and became policy as part of the 2021 "interim" reforms to officer management and recruitment policies to improve professionalism. The reforms created a four-grade structure for technical specialists (senior professional, deputy senior professional, intermediate professional and junior professional), a separate pay level structure, and linked pay and benefits to rank rather than grade.

The revised officer grade system associated each grade to one rank, although a rank could be associated with multiple grades.

Insignia
Grade is indicated on a uniform by a ribbon bar and the number of rows of ribbons.