Technocracy on the ground: cadre competence, expert involvement, and scientific advice in China's local governance

This chapter deals with what is considered policy-relevant expertise in China and how this competence is channeled into the local governance process. A historical overview first shows how approaches to the skills sought in office holders transformed, from the ideal of the imperial era “scholar-bureaucrat” and the Reform period “technocrat” to the certified specialist official of today. Interestingly, the analysis also reveals that the Party state nowadays increasingly encourages its cadres to include non-governmental knowledge and analysis by professional scientists and scholars into the policy process. The second part of the chapter analyzes these patterns of scientific policy advice in China, with a particular focus on local governance, an area that has largely been overlooked in existing research literature. In conclusion, the chapter discusses what the centralization under the leadership of Xi Jinping means for ideas and practices of technocracy and for our overall understanding of contemporary local governance in China.