Tiao-kuai
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The tiao-kuai (Chinese: 条块; pinyin: tiáo-kuài; literally "strips and blocks") system, also known as tiáotiáo-kuàikuài (条条块块) to emphasize the plurality, is the quasi-federal arrangement of administration in the People's Republic of China. The 'strips' refer to the central government ministries; the 'blocks' refer to the provinces. Constitutionally, they are of the same level: this means a province may challenge, overrule, or ignore decisions made by a ministry. This two-dimensional arrangement sometimes creates undesirable conflicts, and there have been calls for tiao-kuai integration (条块结合; tiáo-kuài jiéhé), although this is unlikely to occur due to resistance from the provinces.
An analogous situation can be seen in federal systems such as the United States where a federal and state agency operate in parallel, but neither has the authority to command the other. Although the power relationships are similar the actual powers exercised can be quite different. For example, there are parallel institutions for police in the United States but not in the PRC. Conversely, there are parallel institutions for securities regulation in the United States, but not in the PRC.
The system arose as a result of Chinese economic reform. In the pre-reform period, provinces were seen as simply administrative units of the central government, and with the exception of the military, the provinces followed orders from the center. Under the Deng Xiaoping reforms, provinces were given substantial economic and political authority. This posed a problem for the central government in that the central government had no independent means of enforcing its authority to prevent local protectionism or enforce standards. Hence in the 1990s, the PRC government began creating parallel central organizations. Most of these organizations deal with economic regulations.
