Any student of the Chinese language, sooner or later, will come across the so-called bureaucratic terms, which are difficult to distinguish one from another, difficult to remember and even more difficult to translate.
Bureaucracy is meant as the collective apparatus and people to which is entrusted the administration of a State, and Chinese bureaucracy is rather varied and complicated.
On the basis of my experience, the amount of effort necessary to translate these sector-specific terms is quite noteworthy, and for this reason I put together my notes taken patiently over the course of my years of studying the Chinese language, and in this article I will try to provide a compact but useful tool for translating various bureaucratic terms without stopping to go into great detail, otherwise we’ll never finish!
Print the article and always keep it on hand, especially for the translations.
The following terms are not ordered into a precise outline.
Rénmín Dàhuìtáng人民大会堂 The Great Hall of the People
Zọ̌nglǐ 总理 Prime Minister
Zhǔxí 主席 President
Lạ̌obǎixìng 老百姓 The People
Zuìgāo rénmín jiǎncháyuàn 最高人民检察院 Supreme Prosecutor of the People
Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng 中国共产党 Chinese Communist Party (abbr. PCC)
Wěiyuánhuì 委员会 Committee
Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì 中央委员会 Central Committee (abbr. CC)
Zhōngyāng zhèngzhìjú chángwù wěiyuánhuì 中央政治局常务委员会 Permanent Committee of the Political Office of the Central Committee
Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì 全国人民代表大会 National Assembly of the People (abbr. ANP)
Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì chángwù wěiyuánhuì 全国人民代表大会常务委员会 Permanent Committee of the National Assembly of the People
Liǎng-huì 两会 “The Two Assemblies” = a term that refers to the National Assembly of the People
quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì 全国人民代表大会 and the Political Consulting Conference of the Chinese Population
Zhōngguórén mín Zhèngzhì Xiéshāng Huìyì 中国人民政治协商会议 (frequently abbreviated as rénmín Zhèng-Xié 人民政协 or Zhèng-Xié 政协)
Gōngwùyuán 公务员 State employee
Zhōngyāng jūnshì wěiyuánhuì 中央军事委员会 Central commission for Military Affairs
Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng gémìng wěiyuánhuì Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì 中国国民党革命委员会中央委员会 Central committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Nationalist Party (abbreviated as Mín-Gé zhōngyāng 民革中央)
Guówùyuàn 国务院 Council of Affairs of State
《Rénmín Rìbào》 zhèngzhì Wénhuàbù 《人民日报》政治文化部 Cultural and political office of the People’s newspaper
Zuìgāo rénmín fǎyuàn 最高人民法院 Supreme Court of the People
Quánguó dàibiǎo dàhuì 全国代表大会 National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
Quánguó Rén-Dà huán zī wěi 全国人大环资委 Committee of environmental resources of the National Assembly of the People
Guójiā lǚyóu jú 国家旅游局 National Office of Tourism
Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì shūjìchù 中央委员会书记处 Secretary of the Central Committee
Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì zǒngshūji 中央委员会总书记 General Secretary of the Central Committee
Zhōngyāng zhèngzhìjú 中央政治局 Political Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (Politburo)
Xíngtíng 刑庭 Criminal Court
Wěituōshū 委托书 Prosecutor
Gōng’ān jīguān 公安机关 Public Safety
Pīzhǔn juédìng shū 批准决定书 Document of Approval
Zǔzhī wěiyuánhuì 组织委员会 Organizing Committee
Mìshūzhǎng 秘书长 General Secretary
Shēnqǐng bàopī 申请报批 Apply for approval
党政军一把抓 Keeper of the State, Party and Army
中共18大 Eighteenth Congress of the Chines Communist Party
中共政治局全体常委 The entire body of the permanent committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Jīcéng bùmén 基层部门 Local departments
Shì jí bùmén 市级部门 City sections
Jūwěihuì 居委会 Neighborhood committee
Cūn wěi 村委 Village committee
Wàijiāo bùzhǎng 外交部长 Minister of Foreign Affairs
Gōngxuǎn 公选 Public Contest
Shěng-wěi 省委 Provincial Committee
Xiànwěi cháng-wěi 县委常委 Member of the County Party Committee
Fù xiànzhǎng 副县长 County Vice-director
Shěng Rén-Dà chángwěihuì chùzhǎng 省人大常委会处长 Director of the Permanent Committee of the Assembly of the People on a provincial level
Slogans
The Chinese Communist Party uses lots of slogans, below I’ll list the most well-known.
Wèi rénmín fúwù 为人民服务 Serve the People
Zhǐ shēng yī gè hái 只生一个孩 Bring an only child into the world
Jiànshè yǒu Zhōngguó tèsè de shèhuìzhǔyì 建设有中国特色的社会主义 Build a socialism that’s distinctly Chinese
Hépíng tǒngyī, yī̠guóliǎngzhì 和平统一，一国两制 To be united peacefully, one country but two systems (Referring to relations between China and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan)
Pínqióng bụ̀ shì shèhuìzhǔyì 贫穷不是社会主义 There is no poverty in Socialism
Xīn Běijīng, xīn Ào Yùn 新北京，新奥运 New Beijing, New Olympics
Further help
Bù 部 Department / Office
Jīguān 机关 Office / Organ
Jú 局 Bureau / Office / Department
Huì 会 Meeting
Zhǎng 长 Head / Head of a company
Naturally, there are more bureaucratic terms than those I mentioned here. I hope that you might contribute by writing other terms in the comments, thanks!
Photo Credits: 
Chinese Book by Stephanie Chiu
