The State Council administers the offices of China's executive bureaucracy, including ministries, commissions, and offices that it administers directly and a variety of offices and organizations that it administers indirectly:
Ministries and commissions: The ministries and commissions under this category rank the highest among PRC government offices. The head of each bureau carries the rank of minister, which is equivalent to that of provincial governor. Sample ministries include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, and the National Development and Reform Commission.
Directly administered offices: This category includes the bulk of government offices not included in the official ministries and commissions that report directly to the State Council. China's system technically differentiates between directly administered government bureaus (such as the State Administration of Industry and Commerce) and directly administered professional organizations (such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission and Xinhua News Agency), but for the purposes of this report such offices are listed under the single category of directly administered offices.
A handful of these offices are afforded "ministry-level status" by the PRC government. Such offices are denoted by an asterisk (*) throughout this report.