Social Sciences in China, 2020

Vol. 41, No. 1, 2020

The Reordering of Relationship and the Shaping of a National Governance Structure in China

(Abstract)

He Yanling

Various government documents tend to put the reordering of relationship together with institutional reform and functional transformation. If we fail to understand this important issue, we will be unable to understand China’s national governance system. The reordering of relationship has four dimensions: government and market; central and local government; the economy and society; and government and society. The routes to this reordering can be divided into separation, retention and postponement. On the one hand, the conflicts between these routes have affected China’s national governance structure, so that it seeks a balance between closure and opening up; on the other, the course taken by the reordering of relationship is rooted in the demands for generality and modernity that coexist within China’s national governance. One could say that the straightening out of relationship has reshaped the distinctive features of this governance. In the course of continuous reordering, some of its important elements have undergone a crucial change. From the perspective of the reordering of relationship, the openness with which these relations have been absorbed into a larger system is crucial to the future transformation of China’s national governance.

Keywords: reordering of relationship, national governance system, governance structure