Abstract: “Planning” serves not only an important governance experience in China’s political practice, but also an important way for the Communist Party of China to govern the country. “Planning state” is an expansion of the concept of “national planning”, a conceptual schema that can more systematically summarize and interpret “the governance of China”, and shape the internal logic of the CPC’s governance in terms of “methodology” and “governance system”. With this scheme, a multi-level and multi-agent governance system, the Party, people’s congresses, governments at all levels and the general public have been closely compiled, and through this scheme, the Party’s ideas, the state’s will and people’s actions have been transformed and demonstrated. Its supporting mechanism, incentive mechanism and correction mechanism lie in the project system, the official accountability system, the policy experiment which altogether promote the effective operation of the scheme and the realization of the Party’s strategic objectives. “Planning state” has promoted the structural changes of the central and local authorities, the benign interaction between the state and the market, thus enhancing the governance capacity of the Communist Party of China.

Key words: planning state, national planning, the governance of China, modernization of political parties, project system, official accountability system, policy experiment