The Past and Present of Governance in China: Institutions, Incentives, and Leadership

The University of Chicago Center in Beijing

20th floor, Culture Plaza

No. 59A Zhong Guan Cun Street

Haidian District Beijing 100872

Convened in the historic city of Hangzhou, this multi-disciplinary symposium brought together leading American and Chinese researchers in the social science disciplines to examine and reflect on the nature and dynamics of China’s governance.

The symposium was held in collaboration with Zhejiang University and in the city of Hangzhou. Hangzhou served as the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was referred to as the city “beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world” by Marco Polo. It was during the Song Dynasty that the Chinese civil service became well developed and commerce and culture flowered. Today’s Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province, renowned for its entrepreneurship and other forms of innovations. Our other institutional collaboration is the Contemporary Research Institute, Central Compilation and Translation Bureau. The Central Translation Bureau, and especially its Contemporary Research Institute, has gained much attention for research on contemporary developments in China and in other socialist countries and for its promotion of innovation in governance.

Organizers:  Roger Myerson (Department of Economcis) and Dali L. Yang (Department of Political Science), in collaboration with Zhejiang University (Hangzhou) and China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau.

Conference Agenda

International Symposium on the Past and Present of Governance in China:

Institutions, Incentives, and Leadership

“中国治理的历史和现状：制度、动力与领导”国际研讨会”

Tuesday, 1 Nov. 2011

Venue: Zijingang campus, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou

地点：杭州浙江大学紫金港校区

07:00pm-07:20pm:      Honorary professorship appointment ceremony for Roger Myerson

07:20pm-09:00pm:      Public talk by Roger Myerson, “Understanding the foundations of all political systems: leadership, law, and local government”, at the International Conference Hall

Venue: Conference hall, Jinxi Hotel, Hangzhou

地点：杭州金溪山庄会议厅

08:00am-24:00pm: Registration

Wednesday, 2 Nov. 2011

Venue: Conference hall, Jinxi Hotel, Hangzhou

地点：杭州金溪山庄会议厅

08:30am—08:50am:  Welcoming Remarks（欢迎致辞）   (20mins)

Chair（主持）: Yu Xunda(余逊达)

    Yu Keping (俞可平), Deputy chief, Central Compilation & Translation Bureau

    Dali Yang(杨大利), Director, University of Chicago Center in Beijing

    Ren Shaobo (任少波), Deputy secretary, the Communist Party Committee of Zhejiang University

08:50am-09:00am:             Photo Session (10mins)

09:00am-10:00am:             Keynote speeches (主题报告)  （20mins for each）

Chair: Dali Yang (杨大利)

    Roger Myerson

    Yu Keping（俞可平, Towards good governance: Achievements and challenges in the governance reform of China

    Shi Jinchuan（史晋川）, World, China, and Yangtze River Delta—research on economic and social development trends in twenty years

10:00am-10:20am:            Tea Break

10:20am-11:20am:             Keynote speeches (主题报告)  （20mins for each）

Chair: Dali Yang (杨大利)

    Lin Shangli（林尚立）, Democracy and livelihood: popular democracy’s Chinese logic

    Xu Yong （徐勇）, The Long-acting Mechanism of Villager Autonomy System

    Lynn White, Temporal, Spatial, and Functional Governance of Reform Stability in Commercialist China

11:20am-11:50am:              Questions and discussion

01:45pm-03:00pm:             Session one: Governance and democracy (12mins each)

Chair: Zhou Hongyun (周红云)

    Carles Boix, Democracy, Development and the International System

    Ma Jun (马骏), On budget supervision of local people’s congress in China

    Chen Guoquan (陈国权), The change of decision-making power of national people’s congress, and its check and supervision

    Xiaojun Yan, Regime Inclusion and the Resilience of Authoritarianism: Local People’s Political Consultative Conference in Post-Mao Chinese Politics

    Ren Jiantao (任剑涛), Between the formal incentive system and the informal incentive system—analyzing the incentive system of China’s national governance

    Lan Zhiyong (蓝志勇), Traditions, Status Quo, and Future Prospects: the Vicissitudes of the Meaning of Governance

03:00pm-03:30pm:         Questions and discussion

03:30pm-03:50pm:         Tea Break

03:50pm-05:00pm:         Session two: Social justice and social management innovation (12mins for each)

Chair: Ma Jun (马骏)

    Zhou Guanghui (周光辉), Monopoly operation: social justice’s dilemma

    Yu Jianxing (郁建兴), The Zhejiang pattern of service-oriented government construction

    Zhang Xiaojin (张小劲), Comparisons of the Grassroots Governance Innovation

    Zhou Hongyun (周红云), The innovation of social management and government reform

    Jing Yijia (敬乂嘉), Managed Social Innovation

    Yu Xiaohong (于晓虹), Analysis of Wuxi from the perspective of social management innovation

05:00pm-05:30pm:        Questions and discussion

Thursday, 3 Nov. 2011

Venue: Conference hall, Jinxi Hotel, Hangzhou

地点：杭州金溪山庄会议厅

08:30am-09:45am:             Session three: Civil society and the third sector governance (12mins each)

Chair: Yu Jianxing (郁建兴)

    Dali Yang (杨大利), Development, Trust, and Governance:  The Challenges of Harmonious Development

    Gao Bingzhong (高丙中), The Concept of “Civil Society” and China’s Reality

    Yang Guangbin (杨光斌), The priority of social rights as China’s political development choices

    Xu Jialiang (徐家良), The Third Sector Governance in China: Structure, Institution and Capacity Building

    Ja Ian Chong, Popular Narratives versus Chinese History: Implications for Understanding an Emergent China

    Su Zhenhua (苏振华), Genesis mechanism and evolution logic of Chinese civil movement

09:45am-10:15am:             Questions and discussion

10:15am-10:35am:             Tea Break

10:35am-11:45am:              Session four: Regime legitimacy and national identity  (12mins for each)

Chair: Carles Boix

    Dingxin Zhao & Hongxing Yang, Performance Legitimacy and the Economic Development of China

    Yunhan Zhu, Sources of regime legitimacy and the debate over China’s model

    Ashley Esarey, Media and Power in Chinese Politics

    Emily M. Hill, Work in Progress: Chiang Kai-shek’s Governance as seen through his diaries

    Zhang Mengmeng (张萌萌), The media construction of national identity

    Zhengxu Wang, Source of Legitimacy of Local Government in Rural China: Will Institutional Innovations Help Sustain the One-Party Rule?

11:45am-12:15pm:             Questions and discussion

1:45pm-03:00pm                Session five: Leadership and local governance (12mins for each)

Chair: Zhang Xiaojin (张小劲)

    Ji You, Governing Top Brass Selection and Promotion: Exploring the PLA Leadership Politics

    Jing Yuejin (景跃进), The forming pattern of generational transition in leadership

    Xiao Bin (肖滨), Guangdong model in the process of evolution: an analysis framework

    Yang Xuedong (杨雪冬), Market Economy, Pressurized System and Logic of Local Political Changes: An Analysis based on experiences of three localities

    Pierre Landry, Land, power and borders: the evolution of country-level governments in China, 1980-2005

    Chen Xuelian (陈雪莲), Make Local Cadres More Accountable Through Public Participation in Cadre Evaluation

03:00pm-03:30pm:      Questions and discussion

03:30pm-03:50pm:      Tea Break

03:50pm-05:30pm:       Conference Comments, Dialogue, Open Discussion (100mins)

Chair: Yang Xuedong (杨雪冬)

Participants: Roger Myerson, Chongyi Feng, Dingding Chen, Tang Liang (唐亮), Wang Changjiang (王长江), Yang Shuwen (杨书文), Xue Liqiang (薛立强), Lang Youxing(郎友兴), and Lan Weiqing(蓝蔚青)

05:30pm-05:45pm:      Closing ceremony (闭幕式)      (15mins)

Yang Xuedong(杨雪冬), Dali Yang (杨大利), and Yu Xunda(余逊达)

Conference Venue: Hangzhou, Zhejiang University