President Xi and Entrepreneurs: Unity of Power Elites in China

 

In this picture, President Xi shook hands with Ren Zhengfei, the CEO of Huawei Technologies, one of the most influential entrepreneurs in China (Wu 2025). Groups of other officials and entrepreneurs from the renowned private sectors stayed around them in circles, which created a sense of unity among these powerful figures in China. The photo was taken after Xi's meeting with influential and accomplished private business owners in recent years, such as Jack Ma, which primarily discussed the future cooperation between private business owners and the government. That particularly reflected the state's increasing attention to the development of Chinese technological companies, such as Huawei and Deepseek, since the business leaders of related realms occupy most positions in the meeting.

The event reminded me of Mills's focus on the centralization and consequent unity of the power elites in a nation (Mills 1956: 6-9). According to Mills, three realms of power, political, economic, and military, reside within American society. They limit and support each other through the coordination of large institutions, such as corporations and government. Through coordination and centralization, unity maintains and sometimes extends power elites' privileges and influence over others outside the interlocking system.

The meeting between influential Chinese business owners and political leaders has similar implications for the power system. On the one hand, Xi Jinping is obviously the most powerful figure in China since he holds the majority of political and military power in his grasp as the leader of the Central Committee and Central Military Committee. On the other hand, entrepreneurs are the representatives of the rising private corporations that are becoming increasingly important in China's economic development. Thus, the conversation signals the collaboration of the political, economic, and military power elites, which can dictate the future moves of the nation.

However, the unity also has a changing dynamic. Mills proposes "three major keys" to understand the power elite in America (Mills 1956: 19). First, the elites are "of similar social type," which are shaped by similar educations and origins, and the similarity demarcates the distinction between insiders and outsiders (Mills 1956: 19). Second, the relations among the elites in different realms are largely determined by the relations among the hierarchies they belong to, and that contributes to the dynamic of the power system. Third, the power elites rely on the institutions to coordinate each other's power and interests to maximize their benefits from the system.

The last two keys are consistently reflected in the nuances of the unity of power elites in China. The dynamic of power in the past decade is clearly reflected in the entrepreneurs that were invited: the leaders from the manufacturing industry on high-end technologies, such as phones and chips, and other rising technological areas take most positions in the position. We can thus perceive that the Chinese government recognized the increasing importance of high-end technologies in the Chinese economy. Nevertheless, these industries were still outsiders of the power system a decade ago, when the economy was mainly bolstered by property companies and foreign investments. Through the meeting, the Chinese government shifts its support from the traditional industries to those rising industries. The cooperation thus promotes its political control over the nation and power against threats from the US and Europe. To the related private businesses, political support increases their profits and influence in the market through beneficial policies and financial subsidies. Therefore, as Mills indicates, the dynamic of power elites' unity in China is guided by the relations among different realms of power and their interest. Based on these relationships, various groups of power elites, representatives of different realms of power, came together to form a community or institution to further develop their power over society. Nonetheless, it is crucial to note that the first key cannot apply to the conditions in China due to the difference between American and Chinese political institutions. There is still a much more significant power imbalance between the government and these privileged entrepreneurs in China, as the Chinese Communist Party has almost complete control over the political and military power of the nation. In addition, they are also influential in the market through the status of state-owned companies. Hence, unlike Mills's claim based on American society, the elites in CCP are actually socially and psychologically different from the business owners, and the superiority will potentially undermine the stability of the unity.

After all, despite the particularity of China compared with other developed Western nations, Mills's understanding of the centralization of power elites can generally apply to the case of Chinese power elites. Similar to American power elites, Chinese elites' demand to reinforce their control over society and promote their influences prompt them to form unity through coordination and cooperation among the influential institutions and organizations. Mills's theory based on American society, together with the case of Chinese power elites, convincingly reflects how different realms of power in Weberian definition interact within a particular strata and affect the whole society.

References: 

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford University Press

Wu, Huizhong. 2025. "China's Xie Promises Policies' Stability at Meeting With Business Leaders, Including Alibaba's Jack Ma." AP News. February 17. Retrieved April 16, 2025 (https://apnews.com/article/china-xi-private-business-economy-jack-ma-7898eb671dc6f7cb817cc6238328ea1b)