The expansion of China's administrative state during COVID, with Yale Law's Taisu ZhangThe expansion of China's administrative state during COVID, with Yale Law's Taisu Zhang
The expansion of China's administrative state during COVID, with Yale Law's Taisu Zhang
This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes Taisu Zhang, professor of law at Yale University, who discusses his recent work on the expansion of the administrative state down to the subdistrict and neighborhood level — changes that are far-reaching, and likely permanent. They also discuss a recent essay in Foreign Affairsi n which Taisu argued that Beijing is shifting away from "performance legitimacy" as the foundation of political rule, and more toward legality — not to be confused with the rule of law.
3:29 – Nationalism as legitimacy, and its grounding in economic performance
7:45 – The CCP’s unique approach to “legal legitimacy”
21:28 – Evidence from the Two Meetings, or 兩會 liǎnghuì
35:56 – Chinese Administrative Expansion in the Xi Jinping Era
49:40 – The role of the anti-corruption campaign in expanding local government authority
56:18 – Changes in local governance after COVID
1:01:27 – Who were the dàbái?
1:04:10 – Technology in China’s post-pandemic power structure
