"Crown Prince Party" (太子党 Pinyin: Tàizǐ Dǎng), or The Princelings, are the descendants (usually in the second-generation) of prominent and influential senior communists of the People's Republic of China. It is not a political party, but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefitting from nepotism.

The term was coined in early 20th century, meaning the son of Yuan Shikai and his cronies. It later pointed to the relatives of the top four nationalist families. After 1950s, the term pointed to Chiang Ching-kuo and his friends in Taiwan.

The latest crown princes are in mainland China. The immediate ancestors of the "Crown Princes" are seen to have political and economic influence within the nation (some are the Eight Immortals of Communist China). The "Crown Princes" are often seen as having offices given to them regardless of their possible incompetence.

The main influence of the Crown Prince Party is having guanxi with the top leadership of mainland China, they are often seen as being able to provide political cover. Therefore they tend to appear on the boards of directors of corporations doing business in mainland China and as mid-level members of the bureaucracy. However, none of the top leadership of the party, state, or army are seen to be members of the party.

However, most political observers see the Crown Prince Party as having the most power in the 1990s and that their power was reduced in the late-1990s by a number of factors:

1. First of all, not only did the Crown Prince Party cause some resentment among the general public, but they caused resentment within the party among the vast major of members who did not have a powerful relative;
2. Second, their power was considerably reduced as their senior relatives died and being a relative of a person who no longer has power can even be a liability;
3. Finally, the growing institutionalization of Chinese business and politics made their guanxi less useful and in some cases counterproductive.

One watershed event occurred around 1998, when most of the members of the Crown Prince Party lost most of their state and party positions.

The following are some of the more famous "crown princes":

• Sons and daughters of Deng Xiaoping: Deng Pufang (邓朴方 dèng pú fāng), Deng Rong (邓榕 deng4 rong2), and Deng Nan (邓楠 děng nán)
• Son of Chen Yun (陈云), Chen Yuan (陈元 chén yúan)
• Son of Bo Yibo (薄一波), Bo Xilai (薄熙来)
• Daughter of Tao Zhu (陶铸), Tao Siliang (陶斯亮)
• Son of Wu Yunfu (伍云甫), Wu Shaozu (伍绍祖)
• Son of Lin Boliang (林伯渠), Ling Yongsan (林用三)
• Son of Peng Zhen ( 彭真 peng2 zhen1), Peng Borui (彭傅锐 péng bó ruì)
• Son of Wang Zhen (王震 wang2 zhen4), Wang Jun (王军 wáng jūn)
• Son of Liu Shaoqi (刘少奇), Liu Yuan (刘源)
• Son of He Long (贺龙), He Pengfei (贺鹏飞)
• Son of Rong Yiren (荣毅仁), Rong Zhijian (荣智健)

In a publication, 226 "crown princes" were listed (see link below).

External link

• 中共「太子黨」 ("Crown Prince Party" of the Communist China) (in Traditional Chinese) A name list and some problems.
• China's former 'first family' about the children of Deng Xiaoping