Political Governance | 政治
English (英文) | Chinese (中文)
China’s political system has become even more highly centralized under President Xi Jinping.
But mounting domestic and international challenges raise questions about the Communist Party’s capacity to adapt. While the concentration of power has tightened discipline within the bureaucracy, it has also curtailed space for policy experimentation and dissenting views. At the same time, China’s leadership is grappling with widespread pressures, from an economic slowdown to an aging population, public malaise, and, beneath the surface, elite discontent with the Party’s ranks. How stable is China’s government, and how will the Party’s policies evolve?
Interview | Professor Anthony Saich
Anthony Saich, Daewoo Professor of International Affairs; Director, Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia; Faculty Chair, China Programs, Harvard Kennedy School
Highlights from the Critical Issues Confronting China Lecture Series
Framing the Issue
Full Lectures and Panels
Hong Kong 2025: Competing Visions of a City’s Past, Present, and Future
Critical Issues Confronting China Lecture, Fall 2025
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
The Dragon Roars Back: Xi’s Power Concentration and Foreign Policy Implications
Critical Issues Confronting China Lecture, Spring 2025
Suisheng Zhao, Professor and Director, Center for China-U.S. Cooperation, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
Unchained Watchdog:
How China’s Supervision Commission
Escapes Legal Bounds
Critical Issues Confronting China Lecture, Spring 2025
Jeremy Daum, Senior Research Scholar in Law and Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center, Yale University
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William P. Alford
Harvard Law School
Susan Greenhalgh
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
Daniel Koss
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Ya-Wen Lei
Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Rana Mitter
Harvard Kennedy School
Elizabeth J. Perry
Department of Government, Harvard University
Meg Rithmire
Business, Government & the International Economy (BGIE) Unit, Harvard Business School
Anthony Saich
Harvard Kennedy School
Michael A. Szonyi
Departments of East Asian Languages & Civilizations and History, Harvard University
Yuhua Wang
Department of Government, Harvard University
Mark Wu,
Harvard Law School
More to Think About
“Through the Past Darkly: Culture and Practice of the Chinese Communist Party,” by Anthony Saich, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2025)
Why You Should Read It: This piece provides a historical and cultural analysis of the Chinese Communist Party, highlighting the enduring features that have enabled its resilience and shaped its vulnerabilities. Professor Saich argues that the Party’s Leninist organizational structure, which dominates both state and society, is a core element that explains its capacity to centralize power, stifle dissent, and mobilize the population.
“Maintaining Empire: The Examination System and Secessionist Conflict in Imperial China,” by Gary W. Cox, Mark Dincecco, and Yuhua Wang (2025)
Why You Should Read It: This paper argues that the imperial civil service examination system (keju 科举) was a crucial institutional innovation for maintaining the Chinese empire by systematically tying local elites to the central state. Using centuries of panel data, the authors show that regions producing more top exam-passers (jinshi 进士) experienced significantly fewer secessionist wars, demonstrating how the system created powerful political incentives for unity.
“Dethroning the Mao-Era Elite, Clearing the Way for Reform,” by Hao Chen, Saul Wilson, Changxin Xu, Cheng Cheng, and Yuhua Wang, The China Quarterly (2024)
Why You Should Read It: This article argues that China’s reform era was enabled by a massive top-down replacement of Mao-era elites with younger, better-educated, pro-reform cadres between 1982-1984. This elite transformation was a prerequisite for implementing major policy shifts, demonstrating a “Personnel Model” where the Party ensures policy alignment by installing sympathetic officials throughout the bureaucracy.
