China’s multi-layered state capacity in the context of central-local relations

The third Michaelmas term 2019 China Centre 'China in the World' seminar was held on Monday 4 November 2019 in the Webb Library. Professor Zhu Tianbiao gave a lecture on China’s multi-layered state capacity in the context of central-local relations.

China has been a unified state for most of the past 2000 years. The relationship between the centre and the localities is an enduring issue in China’s political economy. Prof Zhu provided a critical evaluation of the extensive academic literature on the topic, including that of both Western and Chinese scholars, and provided rich insights from his own research.

There was a ‘full house’ in the Webb Library to hear his lecture, which was followed by a dynamic and in-depth Q&A session.

Prof Zhu Tianbiao (B.Econ. Sydney, M.Phil. Cambridge, Ph.D. Cornell) is the Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, where he is also a professor in the Department of Sociology. He previously worked at the Australian National University, Tsinghua University and Peking University. His teaching and research interests include international and comparative political economy, and political economy of development.