In a 1st attempt to identify an implicit theory of leadership among Chinese people, the authors developed the Chinese Implicit Leadership Scale (CILS) in Study 1. In Study 2, they administered the CILS to 622 Chinese participants from 5 occupation groups, to explore differences in perceptions of leadership. Factor analysis yielded 4 factors of leadership: Personal Morality, Goal Efficiency, Interpersonal Competence, and Versatility. Social groups differing in age, gender, education level, and occupation rated these factors. Results showed no significant gender differences, and the underlying cause for social group differences was education level. All groups gave the highest ratings to Interpersonal Competence, reflecting the enormous importance of this factor, which is consistent with Chinese collectivist values.