As China's land-financed development model faces increasing constraints, local governments have turned to public data as a new strategic resource. However, there is a governance puzzle with public data: how can the state mobilize a resource whose ownership remains legally and politically unresolved? This article examines Local Digital Platform Vehicles (LDPVs), hybrid corporations that have proliferated since the early 2010s. Drawing on data gathered from extensive interviews and an original nationwide dataset of LDPVs from 2014 to 2025, we argue that these entities enable local governments to exercise "control without ownership" by asserting authority over data flows rather than through formal property rights. Internally, control is achieved through co-shareholding, task approval, personnel and strategic partner selection, which bind market actors to local developmental objectives. Externally, LDPVs extract value by internalizing subcontractor profits, pursuing data financialization and shifting towards platform-based models. The article shows how China's local developmental state is developing new organizational instruments for governance in the digital age. (sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic): (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)?(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"((sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)").(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)2010(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)2014(sic)2025(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic):(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic), (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).

Scholars widely regard digital governance as a path to good governance in China. However, the perception gap between political elites and mass in China has not yet been systematically explored. Based on a large-scale online national survey (N = 3,822), this study divides perceptions of digital governance into preference and satisfaction and applies an individual-contextual model to explain the perception gap. The findings reveal that there is consensus between political elites and mass in their preferences, but a significant divide exists in their satisfaction, with elites reporting higher satisfaction. Individual factors significantly shape both preference and satisfaction. There are heterogeneous effects in key individual factors and contextual factors. Low-income political elites report the highest level of satisfaction with digital governance among other subgroups. In cities where the digital governance system is more well-developed, the satisfaction gap is the narrowest, because elite satisfaction decreases more sharply during the process of constructing the digital governance system. By contrast, in cities with higher-quality digital governance services, the satisfaction gap widens-driven by the faster increase in elite satisfaction. These findings provide new insights into the perception gap between elites and mass, with important implications for the legitimacy of digital governance in China.

How do Internet access and political affiliation interact to influence online expression in China? This study categorizes Chinese netizens' Internet access as regular or irregular, based on their exposure to blocked online information. Using data from the 2015 Chinese Urban Governance Survey (CUGS), a unique dataset that measures individuals' use of circumvention technologies, the authors find that the association between irregular Internet access and engagement in online criticism varies by individuals' political affiliation with the party-state system. For netizens with irregular Internet access, Communist Party (CCP) members who are ideologically loyal to the party-state system are more active in online criticism, whereas state-sector employees who benefit economically from the system are less active. These findings indicate that exposure to alternative information that contradicts official propaganda may affect perceptions of the regime, particularly among CCP members, thereby leading Internet censorship to produce counterproductive effects. Meanwhile, the constraining role of economic affiliation suggests that the traditional patronage networks employed by the party-state system extend to political control in cyberspace.

While AI-assisted decision-making is rapidly gaining global traction as a novel governance paradigm, the foundations of its legitimacy are yet to be fully revealed. To address this, we examine how AI-assisted decision-making affects public support and perceived decision quality, focusing on AI literacy. Using a survey experiment in China with a rural public goods provision scenario, we find two key effects. First, a digital legitimation effect where AI-assisted decision-making significantly increases public support compared to bureaucratic decision-making. Second, a digital compensation effect among individuals with low AI literacy, enhancing perceived scientific validity, internal political efficacy, and acceptance of AI-assisted governance at micro- and macro-levels. These findings offer a dual-pathways framework for legitimacy, showing that AI not only reinforces public support but also mitigates AI literacy disparities, fostering inclusiveness in governance decisions.

Many communist regimes have presided over episodes of rapid industrial development, often coupled by the establishment of a planned economic system wherein the state replaces the market as the primary provider of essential resources and services. We argue that life experience under a communist-style industrial workplace fosters a distinct and enduring set of norms and habits that shape how citizens engage with political authorities. Leveraging exogenous variations created by China’s Third Front (TF) campaign, a massive industrial relocation project that moved large-scale industrial-administrative complexes into rural and interior areas between the 1960s–1970s, we show that residents from former TF areas today are more active in contacting the government about personal and community affairs, and hold stronger preferences for state-sponsored participation channels over more contentious ones. Additional analyses suggest that these behavioral patterns are less a strategic response to current local conditions than a result of early socialization. These findings highlight important subnational variations in national communist experiences and underscore the persistent influence of early communist institutions on citizen-government interactions in late communist societies.

How inter-departmental collaboration shapes urban governance remains insufficiently explored. This article contributes to the scholarship by proposing a three-dimensional analytic framework: leadership, institution, and mechanism. Using this, the article conducts a comparative analysis of citizen service hotlines, one of the most vital projects, in Beijing and New York City (NYC). Beijing adopts a vertical mode characterized by a centralized and administrative-oriented leadership, comprehensive institutions, and cross-level cooperation. In contrast, NYC follows a horizontal mode marked by a technology-oriented leadership, fragmented institutions, and contractual cooperation. These modes of collaboration help explain variations in the performance of urban governance across the two cities.

This paper examines Chinese K-pop fan communities’ responses to the 2016–2017 Korean Wave Ban, which restricted the circulation of Korean cultural materials amid diplomatic tensions. The study asks whether fan discourse – previously shaped by South Korea’s more democratic and individualistic environment – would shift toward state ideology or preserve alternative orientations once outside influences were curtailed. Drawing on a dataset of Weibo posts before and after the ban, thematic coding and regression analysis track how online dialogue evolved. Findings show a sharp rise in debates about policy and governance, but no corresponding increase in nationalist or security-driven rhetoric; rather than embracing state narratives or engaging in overt resistance, fans adapted by reframing entertainment discussions into institutional or bureaucratic terms. This strategy of maneuvering reflects coping within constraints while maintaining group identity. The study thus conceptualizes fan communities as emotional and discursive enclaves, whose expressive strategies flexibly adjust to regulation. It highlights how cultural governance reshapes digital participation without reducing fandom to a passive vehicle of state ideology.

Digital state capacity has served as a critical dimension of contemporary governance worldwide, yet the foundational processes and determinants that building digital state capacity remain understudied. With a special focus on China that contributes to a unique digital leapfrogging scenario, this paper explores the digital state capacity based on information mechanisms and explores the key demand–supply dynamics underlying the state capacity-building process. Through analyzing 56,900 government procurement records from 2018–2022, we find that China’s digital state capacity building follows a supply-driven model led by state actors rather than social actors. Moreover, we demonstrate how digital corporatist relationship, indicative of the state’s increasing control of data, combined with traditional clientelist and developmentalist interactions, has created a distinctive pattern of state-business relationship in China’s digital transformation. This study contributes to understanding the institutional foundations of digital state capacity and provides new insights into how technological revolution reshapes state-business relationship for digital governance.

With the emerging trend of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in various fields, AI ethics and its related incidents have aroused concern and caused wide discussion in both society and academia around the world. In this paper, we discuss AI ethics and governance with respect to public perspectives. Based on the existing literature, policies, and guidelines on AI ethics, we sorted AI ethics concerns into eight dimensions: safety, transparency, fairness, personal data protection, liability, truthfulness, human autonomy, and human dignity. Combining online survey data with social media data, we quantified people's concerns on each dimension, and their attitudes toward AI governance policies and goals. The results shed light on how the public understands and views AI ethics and related governance. Finally, we propose several future directions in the development of AI ethics.

China has become one of the most progressive actors in the global trend of governmental digitization over the past two decades. "Digital technologies are increasingly weaving into every aspect of the Chinese governance system, necessitating a renewed understanding of digital politics. This article offers an up-to-date framework for depicting the rapid growth of China's digital government through a holistic view encompassing four dimensions: organizations, institutions, capacities, and effectiveness. Applying this analytical framework, we construct an original dataset to assess the current state of digital government in 101 municipalities. Our analysis shows that China has established full-scale institutions and organizations that direct the utilization of smart cities and big data in delivering public services. However, Chinese municipalities vary drastically in terms of the capacity and the effectiveness of digital governance. A digital divide clearly manifests between regions-while the coastal cities have developed full-fledged digital infrastructure and services, a large majority of inland cities have lagged far behind. This article also explores the factors that contribute to digital government. Two models of government digitization-government-society balanced model and government-driven model-coexist in Chinese municipalities. We find that aside from socio-economic factors such as economic development and social structure, political factors serve as a key driver. The larger city scale, lower percentage of government employee, and higher business size per public official, the more digitally sophisticated the city tends to become. The framework provides new insights for understanding digital government in China, revealing the pattern of rapidly growing yet unbalanced development.

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events poses ever greater challenges to urban resilience and residents’ quality of life. Despite a growing trend advocating for an anthropocentric approach to urban resilience, there remains an inadequate understanding of the evolving hierarchical needs of residents during post-disaster periods, especially considering the interplay with infrastructure service restoration. This study aims to address the gap by elucidating how emergency governance and urban infrastructure repairs can effectively address critical residents’ needs, providing empirical insights for improved resource allocation in infrastructure rush-repair scenarios. First, we categorize residents’ needs into three layers (safety and health, social livelihood and civic engagement) using Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling. Subsequently, we present an urban resilience assessment framework that traces the recovery of residents’ needs alongside dynamic infrastructural functionality restoration, benchmarking against pre-disaster levels. Additionally, hypernetwork analyses are adopted to identify critical and evolving patterns of residents’ post-disaster needs over time. The robustness of our proposed framework is validated through its application to a dataset comprising 220,567 records from residents’ appeals during three recurrent rainfall events in Beijing. Theoretically, this study models the dynamic interactions between residents’ needs and infrastructure response during urban post-disaster recovery. Practically, the pinpointed critical needs guide efficient infrastructure rush-repairs and proactive disaster prevention in infrastructure maintenance.

This article investigates popular conceptions of democracy and its underlying factors in China. Democratic conceptions among Chinese citizens have long been debated, with most concluding that economic welfare and government performance dominate how the Chinese view democracy. This article offers a different picture, with new evidence drawn from text data. By employing the structural topic model to analyze the responses to open-ended questions from three waves of the Asian Barometer Survey between 2008 and 2015, this article delineates four democratic conceptions prevalent among the Chinese populace, namely ‘Political Participation’, ‘Political Rights’, ‘Consultative Decision-making’ and ‘Socioeconomic Performance’. The analysis shows that political participation has become the most prominent conception, closely followed by political rights. This finding suggests a shift in the Chinese interpretation of democracy, aligning more closely with western procedural notions while still retaining distinct Chinese characteristics. In addition to rising demands for freedom and equality, informed respondents ask for deeper involvement in public affairs and higher inclusion in the decision-making process. These trends underscore the necessity for the Chinese authorities to more effectively address public demands, especially in the context of the ongoing endeavor to cultivate China’s new model of whole-process people’s democracy.

Research suggests that economic inequality reduces political trust after the public recognizes the inequality and perceives it as a failure of the political system in Western democracies. This study challenges this presumed "output evaluation model" (OEM) both theoretically and empirically. We provide an alternative mediator evaluation model (MEM) contending that objective inequality affects political trust through government-performance mediators, without requiring accurate public perception of inequality or specific regime types. With nationwide economic inequality and public opinion data from China, we examined both the OEM implication and four MEM mechanisms through impartial governance, responsiveness, judicial fairness, and anti-corruption efforts. Findings indicate that the mediating mechanisms, rather than direct inequality, shape political trust, with robust evidence even after addressing endogeneity. This study broadens the understanding of the intricate relationship between systemic conditions and individual perceptions, offering significant insights into the dynamics of trust in political institutions in a general sense.

Social media is the most popular platform for the expression of public opinion, and it is a critical channel through which researchers can observe the dynamics and patterns of public opinion. This study explores the political origins of Chinese nationalism by focusing on how official media shapes mass nationalism in Cyber China. Analyzing 26 million Weibo posts made during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we found significant variations in nationalism among user types, localities, and stages of the pandemic. Unlike previous studies, we found that the official Chinese media did not always play the expected role of promoting nationalism; instead, it acted as a system of emotional valves that channeled social sentiment. Official media is intended to stabilize social sentiment and prevent social unrest, and nationalistic news stories are used to draw attention away from domestic problems.

Cyberspace has significantly influenced people's perceptions of social interactions and communication. As a result, the conventional theories of kin selection and reciprocal altruism fall short in completely elucidating online prosocial behavior. Based on the social information processing model, we propose an analytical framework to explain the donation behaviors on online platform. Through collecting textual and visual data from Tencent Gongyi platform pertaining to disease relief projects, and employing techniques encompassing text analysis, image analysis, and propensity score matching, we investigate the impact of both internal emotional cues and external contextual cues on donation behaviors. It is found that positive emotions tend to attract a larger number of donations, while negative emotions tend to result in higher per capita donation amounts. Furthermore, these effects manifest differently under distinct external contextual conditions.

Social media is the most popular platform for the expression of public opinion, and it is a critical channel through which researchers can observe the dynamics and patterns of public opinion. This study explores the political origins of Chinese nationalism by focusing on how official media shapes mass nationalism in Cyber China. Analyzing 26 million Weibo posts made during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we found significant variations in nationalism among user types, localities, and stages of the pandemic. Unlike previous studies, we found that the official Chinese media did not always play the expected role of promoting nationalism; instead, it acted as a system of emotional valves that channeled social sentiment. Official media is intended to stabilize social sentiment and prevent social unrest, and nationalistic news stories are used to draw attention away from domestic problems.

第四次工业革命是数字时代治理模式迭代的科技驱动力.加快建设数字政府成为推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的关键.经过多年的探索和实践,我国数字政府已经超越单一领域发展阶段,迈入全面数字化转型的协同发展阶段.随着数字化转型的深入,数字治理生态逐渐形成,成为驱动数字政府、数字社会和数字经济各个子系统依存发展、协同演化的基础性机制.数字技术对政府、个人和社会发挥赋能、赋权、赋智等重要效应.坚持党的集中统一领导、健全科学规范的制度体系、构建协同高效的职能体系、打造公平普惠的服务体系、完善全链安全的保障体系、构建包容协同的生态体系,是推进数字政府建设的重要路径.

The relationship of government responsiveness and public participation is an important issue of the opinion-policy nexus theory. Based on the "Leadership Message Board" 31 province of China, this study systematically investigated the effect of government responsiveness on public participation. The results find government responsiveness has a magnetic effect on public participation, and the response efficiency, response actors, and response discourse have different effects on public participation. Besides, response discourse has a moderating effect on the influence of high-level response and authoritative department response on public participation. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the governance logic of government responsiveness.

数字技术驱动城市治理创新存在两种模式——物感城市和人感城市.进入数字时代,我国智慧城市治理应走上"物感城市+人感城市"的发展路径,既要理解城市的客观世界与物理空间,也要理解市民的主观世界和社会空间,二者的结合才能更好地理解城市空间,并针对城市复杂问题提供解决方案.