Department of East Asian Studies – Faculty of Social Sciences

PhD Student: Le Quang Nhan

Course: Chinese Polities and Governance

Book Review: The Art of Political Control in China by Daniel C. Mattingly

Introduction:

China must adopt different control policies and strategies to promote the Party’s power. Thus,
Civil Society became an important element of state-society relations in China at that time and also
contributed to reflecting concepts such as authoritarianism, totalitarianism, or partial democracy. The
Art of Political Control in China by Daniel C. Mattingly argues that when looking at the state’s
relationship to rural society, Mattingly found that the state recruited low-ranking officials from within
local kinship and religious networks. These officials strive to serve both their superiors and their
communities and sometimes their interests. This has been Mattingly elucidating the relationship
between religion, state and citizenship. It is an important relationship for research to be treated as a string
with many interconnected links.
His view is that political control is not necessarily coercive by the state, but also requires the use
of local civil society – groups organized as tools of control as well as to suppress dissent in society that
can easily lead to spontaneous resistance to the state. This is one of the main arts of control Governance
is important to complexity in a large country.

Research Question
Daniel C. Mattingly posed the question:
Why do people still obey their authority, when it goes against their interests?
He responded to the presence of civil society organizations as a strong basis for strengthening autocracy
when the authoritarian government of the Chinese Communist Party is ubiquitous. Besides, the process
by which civil society groups were created and how their leaders were recruited by local officials to
assist in implementing state policies came into play.
Are civil societies at risk of backfiring and can only support authoritarian powers?

Scope and Methodology Research:

With a 7 chapter layout, the author and his team spent a decade in rural China (the range is based on 14
villages in 4 provinces) through direct surveys and research, they collected observational data with
figures and tables through survey and qualitative research (218), There is also the analysis of literature
and religious texts. This helped him demonstrate strong conformity and morality in religious texts that
encouraged obedience and preached the inviolable nature of the state.

Centre Argument:
Civil society is one of the issues under China’s political control. In the book, the author disputes the
notion that civil society is a necessity for a politically liberalized institution. The author presents
evidence of day-to-day control methods and grassroots social institutions to demonstrate that the
presence of civil society strengthens the Chinese government’s arbitrary control over citizens (p.12).
Civil society, including temple organizations, lineage associations and social clubs, aims to implement
three specific strategies of nurturing civil society, co-selection and infiltration that result in the three
policies of land requisition, the one-child policy, and the prevention of mass protests.

Mattingly’s central argument is that in authoritarian states, civil society groups can give officials leverage
over citizens and strengthen state coercion. (p. 22) He noted that civic associations increase the
reputation and authority of elites (local leaders) who can help ensure citizens’ political compliance.
These civil society organizations help officials suppress protests, expropriate land, and enforce
mandatory birth limits (the one-child policy) — arguably the CCP’s three main priorities in rural areas.
Rather than focusing on official, openly oppressive organizations such as the secret police or military,
Mattingly examines the function of civil societies and how, among other civil society groups,
connections between Church and Temple groups are utilised to impose covert pressure on individuals.
Mattingly points out two common misconceptions.
- First, overly coercive methods including torture, detention, and security services are used
in China to gain political compliance.
- The second is the belief that, even under a dictatorship, a powerful civil society can hold
its leaders accountable.
Mattingly argues results and findings from this on how the state exploits civil society to increase
its political influence.
- First, the CCP uses temple or lineage organisations to gather data and keep tabs on
behaviour, which results in more land confiscations and fewer protests.
- The CCP also subverts local elites by appointing them to local political organisations.
These local authorities are familiar with the community and are able to spot those who
have grievances or who could organise a protest against the government.
- To further advance its objectives, the state establishes infiltration groups utilising low-
level operatives who can monitor, influence, or inform.

In Chapter 3, the author establishes why the Chinese state needs these informal control strategies. This
chapter stipulates that people’s trust in state officials and local parties is significantly lower than that of
community leaders (p. 91). Lower levels of trust are due to corruption among local officials (pp. 87–88),
land requisitioning without adequate compensation (p. 83), and attacks on sociocultural values such as
prohibiting reproduction through the one-child policy (pp. 109–110). This is a major governance
challenge for the Chinese Communist Party, in choosing informal control strategies that motivate them
to use social civic resources and the trust of community leaders to compensate for the lack of confidence
in the leadership of the state and party at the local level.

Chapter 4 deals with nurturing civil society. The state nurtures civic groups with two objectives:
- First, to make the complexities of a society understandable to the state’s leadership, such
as helping the state gather information about individual behaviours, attitudes, and
activities.
- Secondly, to enhance the moral and social standing of public servants, such as donations
to religious or social charitable activities, etc. (p. 19). Individual public servants such as
village chiefs value morality to persuade people to abide by party policies.
However, there is still a limitation in values between state policies and groups. For example, those one-
child policy outcomes are negatively related to the presence of lineage organizations (pp. 109–110). The
positive point, however, is the presence of the number of lineage organizations that are associated with
the degree of compliance with other policies such as land requisitioning (pp. 121–122).

Chapter 5 makes reference to the co-selection of local elites through their incorporation in the state and
party’s official machinery. However, the use of co-opting by local elites poses serious problems in terms
of their local state control. Different from the baojia 保甲- system for community-based law enforcement
and civilian control over ordinary households. One can mention the Xiangshen 乡紳 system in force in
small towns as well as in rural areas. The nobles possessed a virtual monopoly on holding the Imperial
Examination System 科举制(keju zhi), such that scholar-officials were often praised by the unofficial
elite of the wealthy. Both the baojia and Xiangshen systems are effective tools of informal control that
predate what Mattingly observed in his research.
In the sixth chapter, we refer to the actual intrusion strategy when either of the two strategies discussed
above cannot be used. The state has loosened its control over the economy and society, however, this
method is still considered repressive, which has serious negative consequences for the legitimacy of the
state, but is still used regularly. The CCP has also loosened its grip on traditional cultural institutions and
practices. This helped such organizations that went viral leading to helping the local state implement
quite successful policies despite the high level of distrust. Thus, the author concludes, the rise of non-
state social groups does not necessarily pose a threat but instead the state (local) uses them to make
society more manageable and establish tighter and more effective controls.

In the final chapter, he makes the point that local community groups were utilised by imperial China in
a similar manner to how local officials today utilise community relations and networks of local
informants (184) and acknowledges the significance of civil society organisations to the Chinese state.
In order to explain this, he makes the case that China’s political system, which dates back to the feudal
era, is made up of numerous layers of government, quasi-government, and non-governmental groups.
Political authority in China has always been exercised top-down and via middlemen. Whether or not this
class reflects civil society organisations.

Conclusion:

The role of the state, ethics, and religion in a person’s life is one of the most fascinating aspects of
Chinese political culture, thus if you are a student of sinology or international relations interested in
formal or informal state control theory, you should read this book. Alternatively, the book will give
information on social structures and hierarchies in villages, faiths, and organisations if you are interested
in living in rural Chinese social zones because:

The book’s in-depth examination of official and informal institutions of control is one of its strongest
points. Mattingly makes a compelling case that informal channels play a crucial role in preserving
political power and that formal institutions by themselves are insufficient to do so. He illustrates how
these informal institutions function as efficient means of political control by looking at lineage groups,
religious organisations, and labour unions.

The author also discusses the difficulties the Chinese Communist Party has in controlling rural regions.
Key social and political structures are examined by him, including lineage associations, folk religious
organisations, village committees, and CCP bodies at the village level.

The book also explores government requirements, such as land confiscation, family planning laws, and
stability preservation, in rural China. Using convincing ideas and empirical data, Mattingly explores
how these requirements affect political trust and mobilisation. His thesis is furthered by his explanation
of a survey experiment on political trust in rural China.

Sources:

• Daniel C. Mattingly, 2019, The Art of Political Control in China, Cambridge University Press.
• https://pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews/the-art-of-political-control-in-china-by-daniel-
c-mattingly/
• https://thekootneeti.in/2021/05/04/book-review-the-art-of-political-control-in-china-by-
daniel-c-mattingly/