Scottish Centre for China Research

Abstract

Political trust in China is a culturally binding hope rather than an institutionally binding expectation because people do not have a guaranteed and enforceable right to retract trust in the ruling party through free and fair elections. The underdeveloped political trust has three defining features. First, the object of trust is the central leadership of the ruling party, commonly known as the Center, which is a highly personalized institution. Second, the domain of issue over which people assess the Center’s trustworthiness is policymaking-cum-policy implementation. Last, about twenty percent of the population trust the Center’s commitment to serving (or at least not harming) their interests but distrust its capacity to make local government authorities implement beneficial central policies faithfully.

Speaker Biography

Lianjiang Li is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong. He obtained a BA in philosophy from Nankai University in 1982 and a Ph.D. in political science from Ohio State University in 1996. His research interests include Chinese politics, contentious politics, political trust, and research methods. He is the author of Political Trust in China (University of Michigan Press, July 2025) and Rightful Resistance in Rural China (with Kevin O’Brien) (Cambridge University Press, 2006). His research articles appear in 13 journals, including China Quarterly, Comparative Politics, and Political Studies.