Press:
Professor Tian Xianhong of Central China Normal University wrote "Resilience: How to Run Counties and Townships", which provides an in-depth description and explanation of some key working mechanisms in county governance, such as target management, process management, political evaluation, block relationship, task contracting, leadership observation, cadre linkage system, etc., on this basis, the county governance system, mobilization, cadre mobility, financial system, policy transformation and implementation are thoroughly interpreted. After reading the book, Mr. Li Ziyang wrote an article entitled "The Invisible Hand of Chinese Politics".
One. In recent decades, there has been a very interesting cultural landscape, that is, in the past few decades, there have been people at home and abroad who have believed in and predicted that "China's pill (will be finished)", that is, "China's collapse theory". The "theory of China's collapse" has been shouted for decades, but China has not collapsed, but has flourished and developed all the way.
So far, even by the most demanding standards, China's tremendous development achievements are beyond doubt. The "theory of China's collapse" has clearly failed. So, what is wrong with the "China collapse theory"?
Looking back now, China's development in the past few decades has been smooth sailing, without major setbacks and repetitions, but in fact, the real situation is much more complicated. In fact, in the past few decades, there have been many difficulties and crises – there is a famous theoretical work on China's development process, which uses "Eight Crises" as the title of the book. If these difficulties and crises are not properly handled, the prediction of the "China collapse theory" may come true. From this point of view, the "China collapse theory" is not entirely unfounded.
But the "China collapse theory" is wrong after all. The mistake is that they see all kinds of flaws and weaknesses in China's system, and they also see all kinds of problems that China is facing, but they don't see a high degree of flexibility and adaptability of China's system. It is precisely with this high degree of flexibility and adaptability that China has made roughly correct adjustments and responses to previous crises, rather than using a rigid and fixed system to face the changing environment. As a result, those "crises" that seemed serious or even dangerous were finally successfully resolved, and some were even transformed into the driving force for continued and accelerated development.
This characteristic of Chinese politics is being noticed by more and more people. The reason why China's system has such a high degree of flexibility and adaptability has become one of the research hotspots in the international academic community. Many scholars at home and abroad are going deeper, what is going on? How did the Chinese do it?
The book "Resilience - How Counties and Townships Operate" has made a breakthrough in the study of this issue. The author deeply observes and analyzes the actual operation of China's grassroots **, and finds the reasons for the flexibility and adaptability of China's system. This discovery is very original and deserves further exploration and research. Two.
It all started with China's unique "segmentation system".
There are two very interesting and cute words in Chinese politics: strips and blocks. It sounds like a child's babbling language, but it has been used for many years, and it appears in official documents in a grand manner. This is so because it is difficult to find more concise and accurate words to describe these two concepts.
Strips refer to the longitudinal system from ** to local, departments at all levels are strung together in turn, which is strip-shaped, so it is called strips. Block, on the other hand, refers to the local administrative system that is divided into administrative districts.
Banks are a typical example of the bureaucracy. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of a certain province, although their people and buildings are on the ground in a certain province, but the leader of them is not the provincial party committee and provincial **, but the head office of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Similarly, there are courts, procuratorates, customs, national taxation, land, national security, and so on.
All localities under the leadership of the local party committee are block departments, including the Finance Bureau, the Industry and Commerce Bureau, the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau, the Justice Bureau, and so on. 
It can be roughly understood as follows: the departments of the strips reflect the centralization, that is, the vertical management from the top down. Block departments embody local governance and decentralization.
If it is necessary to strengthen the control, strengthen the department, or classify the corresponding department as "article", so that more power is concentrated in the department; On the contrary, if more power is to be decentralized to the localities and local decision-making power is increased, the corresponding departments should be classified as "blocks" and led and managed by the local authorities.
In 1994, the reform of the tax-sharing system redivided the distribution ratio of national and local taxes, and the proportion of national taxes increased significantly. As a result, the vertical management of the state taxation authorities has been greatly strengthened, while the local taxation departments have been relatively reduced.
In recent years, the state has emphasized environmental protection, so the local environmental protection departments, which were originally "blocks", have been transformed into "stripe departments" with vertical management. The environmental protection department is much stronger than it used to be. For the same reason, due to the country's vigorous anti-corruption, the vertical nature of the Commission for Discipline Inspection is also the attribute of rules and regulations, which has been greatly strengthened. Three.
For many years, the fragmented system has been plagued by criticism. Critics argue that the administrative system is artificially divided by a system of blocks. There are endless contradictions and confusions between the strips and the blocks. There are good things, everyone is vying for; Unfavorable things, race to shirk, kick the ball. The bureaucratic system has led to inefficiency and bureaucracy in the administrative system.
Although there are many criticisms, and theoretically, they are also correct, but there is no overall better solution, so the block system has been used. Interestingly, many years later, when people look at the Chinese system from the perspective of flexibility and adaptability, they find that the segmented system is the first of flexibility and adaptability.
Although there is a clearly defined division of labor and completely different management methods in the division system, in reality, the dividing line between the two is not clear. Many transactions, whether they belong to rules or blocks, are often very vague and not so clear.
This kind of ambiguity will certainly reduce the efficiency of the administrative system and lead to the phenomenon of prevarication and contention, but on the other hand, it provides room for flexible adjustment. The direction of adjustment is not only the integration of blocks to strips, but also the constraints of strips to blocks.
The integration of blocks and blocks is mainly manifested in the fact that when the local government implements some large projects, through the establishment of a temporary leading body - a certain leading group, relying on the authority of the local party committee, the power and resources of the rules and blocks are integrated, and the forces are concentrated to serve the large projects.
Under such circumstances, those departments that originally only accepted the leadership of the higher level of the system will instead accept the leadership of the local party committees and form a synergy with the departments to accomplish the tasks together.
This is actually a "borrowing" of power and resources from the blocks. This kind of "borrowing" often revolves around major tasks, major projects, and has a time limit. During the period of "borrowing", the personnel, finance, and materials of the departments are temporarily assigned to the block department. The project is completed and restored to its original state.
The constraints of the strips on the blocks mainly come from the unified deployment. When it feels necessary, issue new policies and inject more resources into the departments – mainly by providing more financial funds. With new policies and more resources in hand, the departments have the ability to restrain the local departments, take away some of their powers, compress and control their scope of activities, and thus implement the will and deployment of the government.
These two adjustments are in opposite directions, or rather, they are a "tug-of-war" near a blurred dividing line. On the surface, this is the "internal friction" of the administrative system, but after in-depth observation and analysis, the researchers realized that it is precisely because of this "tug-of-war" that China's political system has a high degree of flexibility and adaptability.
The "tug-of-war" between the rules and the blocks is actually a particularly important kind of continuous adjustment of political relations, that is, the relationship between the central government and the local government - * the proportional distribution of centralized power and local decentralization.
For a large country like China, the relationship between the central government and the local government has been a central issue of politics since ancient times. ** Centralization and decentralization have their own advantages and disadvantages, simply emphasizing one aspect and over-suppressing the other is not the correct way to govern the country. The right way is to make adjustments to the reality of the situation.
If there is more and more chaos in the local area and the overall order of the country is affected, it is necessary to strengthen the centralization of power. On the contrary, if the country is rigidized and stagnant if it is too much managed, it is necessary to strengthen the decentralization of power and stimulate the enthusiasm and vitality of the localities.
The segmentation system provides space and means for the adjustment of the relationship between the central government and the local government. Because there is a system of segmentation and the boundaries are blurred, it is possible to change the power and resource allocation of the sections and blocks as needed. The system of the State remains the same, but the institutions change frequently. In this way, it is possible to adapt to changes in the environment at any time. The external environment cannot remain unchanged, and new problems and difficulties of one kind or another will always arise. Governance must be adjusted accordingly.
This is why China's system remains highly flexible and adaptable.
The fragmented system, which has long been criticized, has evolved into a highly flexible and adaptable system, allowing China to survive crises and maintain development time and time again.
Four. Adam Smith's talk about the "invisible hand" of the market economy is well known and widely circulated. It is believed that this is precisely the reason for the superiority of the market economy. The avenue is invisible. The invisible hand is superior to any artificial, intentional arrangement.
The operation of the administrative organs is considered to be 100% "visible hands". *They are using their power to do this and that directly. All administrative matters are the result of power and will. There is no such thing as an "invisible hand" here.
However, an in-depth examination of China's realpolitik shows that, in fact, there is also an "invisible hand" in the political field. Some political systems and institutions, of course, have their goals and roles when they are founded, and they are visible hands. But with the passage of time, after a long period of bit by bit improvement and adjustment, the "invisible hand" has grown from scratch, from less to more, more and more, and stronger and stronger.
In reality, many seemingly irregular, irrational, and inappropriate mechanisms can effectively solve practical problems and maintain the normal operation of the country and society. Moreover, how to solve it, even the cadres can't say clearly, or even don't realize it at all. It's been so confusing for so many years. It's sad every year, and it's good every year.
The segmentation system is a prime example of this. When the department was first divided into sections and blocks, there was no ready-made perfect theory, and it was either designed according to a certain established model, or it was tried and explored according to various practical conditions. Because it has no theoretical basis, it looks like a "dirt bun", so it has been criticized.
However, there is no theoretical basis, but it has become the core advantage of "soil buns". Without a theoretical foundation, there is no unshakable dogma, and everything can be adjusted and changed according to the needs of reality. As a result, in reality, the distribution of power and resources is often adjusted. It has not only solved all kinds of practical problems, but also created its own theories and lofty theories.
The value of the book "Resilience - How to Run the County and Township" lies in the fact that the author's research has found that this kind of reality is widespread, but people are accustomed to it and belong to China's own laws and theories. If we just follow Western theories and "reflect" on China's reality in a way that seeks the sword and sharpens our feet, then of course we can only see all kinds of "unpleasant" and "unsatisfactory words". Only by getting rid of the Western perspective and observing and understanding China's system in China's reality can we answer the question "How do the Chinese do it?" "That's a real question.
Tian Xianhong: "Resilience - How County and Township ** Operate", Chinese University Press, January 2024.