Central Social Affairs Department

Central Social Affairs Department

中国共产党中央委员会社会部
Emblem of the Chinese Communist Party (pre-1996)
Agency overview
Formed	February 18th 1939
Dissolved	1949
Superseding agencies	Central Investigation Department (1955-1983) Ministry of State Security (1983-Present)
Type	Central Committee constituent department
Jurisdiction	China
Agency executives	Kang Sheng, Director Kong Yuan, Deputy Director Pan Hannian, Deputy Director Li Kenong, Deputy Director Chen Gang, Deputy Director Tang Zheng, Deputy Director Liu Shaowen, Deputy Director

The Central Social Affairs Department (Chinese: 中国共产党中央委员会社会部) was the intelligence and counter-intelligence agency of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee from 1939 to 1949, prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Its successors include the intelligence departments of the Ministry of Public Security and of the People's Liberation Army. The Central Committee Investigation Department was formed in 1955 to integrate civilian intelligence services of China. In 1983, the Investigation Department and other relevant agencies were merged to form the Ministry of State Security (MSS) as its successor.

History

The creation of the Central Social Affairs Department (SAD) followed a decision taken by the

. An alternative designation of the department at this early stage was the "Central Commission for Enemy Area Operations."

The first director of the SAD was

(which succeeded the CID in 1983) both trace their institutional origins to the SAD.

Worth noting in an institutional history context is the fact that some of the SAD's sub-national counterparts (e.g., the Department of Social Affairs of the CCP Committee of province X) continued to exist as party bodies for quite some time after the founding of the PRC. In the Tibet Autonomous Region, the Department of Social Affairs of the regional CCP Committee (orig. Work Committee) was not abolished until 2 May 1961.

Leadership

Directors: Kang Sheng (October 1939 – 1948?), Li Kenong (acting dir. May 1948-?; - May 1951?)

Deputy directors:

(May 1948-)

References

Citations

Sources

• Wang Jianying (ed.), "中国共产党组织史资料汇编" (Collected Material on the Organizational History of the Chinese Communist Party), revised and expanded edition. Beijing: Zhonggong Zhongyang Dangxiao Chubanshe, 1995.
• "中国人民公安史稿" (Draft History of China People's Public Security). Beijing: Jingguan Jiaoyu Chubanshe, 1997.