Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2019

A Historical Perspective on the Governance of the Chinese State

(Abstract)

Zhou Xueguang, Deng Xiaonan and Luo Yinan

The governance of the contemporary Chinese state is undergoing a profound reform. As a vigorous rising field in the exploration of the Chinese significance of state governance, the efforts of historical sociology of contemporary China can make an important contribution to expanding the depth of research on the governance of the Chinese state. Such expansion embodies innovative research problem consciousness, the advancement of historical research findings, and critical consciousness of research methodology and theory. Through this special issue, we hope to advance the practice-based subject of “Chinese state governance” and at the same time expand the perspective of historical sociology, thus providing a stimulus to thinking about the historical origin and developmental modes of China’s governance path. Professor Zhou Xueguang of the Sociology Department of Stanford University points out that in seeking the historical evolution of state governance, we should try to transcend the official institutions and official texts, and look for unofficial historical materials to interpret the interplay of the official and unofficial and the transition from symbolic power to real power. This is the very starting point of learning of sociologists from the historian and history. The social sciences and historical research should keep a benign tension through differences and complementation, to promote collision of ideas and knowledge deepening. Professor Deng Xiaonan of the History Department of Peking University argues that, based on his study of the construction of the “Yanlu (channel for airing criticism and opinions)” and its operation and stagnancy, an important information media of the Song dynasty, the direction of information media, the pertinence of system and its operation will be influenced by specific political situation. The communication of information lies not only in the relative transmitting media, but also the “human factor” that affects the information blocking or not. Institutional culture is a divergent political ecological environment, which infiltrates the institutions, and influences the origin of the institutions and its operational methods. The issue really matters does not lie in that it is not important whether we set up relative institutions or, but how the so-called institutions and procedures practice and play roles; how the authorities carry out or treat the institutions; how the people feel under such institutions. Basing on the analysis of the history of Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, Luo Yinan, Assistant Professor of the Public Management College of Tsinghua University, holds that the previous discussions on the state governance of China are influenced by the perspective of “individual power” and regard the state governance as the process of competition and grabs for resources among different interests groups, researchers verify their theoretical patterns by using historical materials of foreign experiences, which often fail to explain the governance path in Chinese history. Different from these patterns, the perspective of “institutional power” concerns on the process of “endogenous evolution,” attaches importance to the institutions and the historical mechanism in its operational practice, and notices the formation of the mechanism to the participants and their relationships. Therefore, further exploration from this perspective should be advocated.