Qingshi vs Baogao: How to Choose Among China's 15 Official Document Types

Keywords: Chinese official document types, qingshi vs baogao, gongwen, Chinese government writing, request vs report

If you work with Chinese government agencies, state-owned enterprises or public institutions, you will eventually draft a gongwen, a formal official document. Getting the document type wrong is the second most common reason a gongwen gets sent back, right after layout and formatting errors.

The 2012 Regulations on Handling Official Documents of Party and Government Organs define 15 statutory types. Here is a quick map.

The 15 types at a glance

Type	Used for	Direction
Resolution (决议)	Major decisions adopted by a meeting	Downward
Decision (决定)	Decisions and arrangements, rewards and penalties, revoking improper lower-level decisions	Downward
Order (命令)	Promulgating regulations, major compulsory measures, commendations	Downward
Communiqué (公报)	Announcing important decisions or major events	Public
Announcement (公告)	Declaring important or statutory matters at home and abroad	Public
Public notice (通告)	Rules or information to be observed within a defined scope	Public
Opinion (意见)	Views and solutions on important issues	Any direction
Notice (通知)	Instructions to execute or note; forwarding documents	Mostly downward
Circular (通报)	Commending, criticizing, or sharing important situations	Downward
Report (报告)	Reporting work or answering a superior's inquiry	Upward
Request (请示)	Asking a superior for instructions or approval	Upward
Reply (批复)	Answering a subordinate's request	Downward
Motion (议案)	Governments submitting matters to the people's congress	Special
Letter (函)	Business between organs with no reporting line	Lateral
Minutes (纪要)	Main points and decisions of a meeting	Any direction

Request vs report: do you need an answer?

• A request (qingshi) is written before you act, and it needs a reply. Typical closing: 妥否，请批示 ("Please advise whether this is appropriate").
• A report (baogao) is written during or after the work, to inform. It needs no reply. Typical closing: 特此报告 ("Hereby reported").

Three hard rules: one request covers one matter only; it normally has one primary recipient and is never copied to subordinate units; and you must never bury a request inside a report, because nobody replies to reports.

Request vs letter: is the recipient your superior?

You can only send a request to an organ you report to. To seek approval from a department outside your reporting line, such as a finance or human resources bureau, use a letter (han). That department will also answer with a letter.

Notice vs circular vs public notice

Use a notice when people must act, a circular to hold up an example or warning, and a public notice to tell the general public what to observe, such as road closures.

Then get the layout right

Once the type is right, the format still has to follow GB/T 9704-2012: margins, FangSong size 3 body text, fixed 28 pt line spacing, heading fonts and more. 公文格式助手 (Gongwen Format Assistant) checks a .docx on your iPhone against these common rules. It can report problems without changing anything, or export a corrected copy, and it processes files on the device without uploading them.

Your organization's own document management rules take precedence where they differ.