In recent years the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has relinquished much of its political power to China's civilian leadership and has turned to the task of professionalizing the military. The transition of the PLA into a relatively apolitical force in Chinese society has occurred alongside great progress toward military modernization, with the foundation now laid for the PLA to become one of the world's most powerful military forces. Dr. Bullard traces the PLA's extremely important and almost revolutionary transition, examines the structural changes associated with it, and assesses current military policies and trends. He discusses in detail the political commissar system, the key institution for all political-military relationships in the Chinese military system.