This book examines two eras of Chinese history that have commonly been viewed as periods of state disintegration or retreat. And they were—at the central level. When re-examined at the local level, however, both are revealed as periods of state building. In both the Nanjing decade of Guomindang rule (1927-1937) and the early post-Mao reform era (1980-1992), both national and local factors shaped local state building and created variations in local state structures and practices. This book focuses on one key area of the state, taxation and public finance, to trace the processes of local state building in these two eras. Using the records of local tax and finance offices in the Tianjin area and in Guangdong province, the author maps the process by which these county-level offices grew.

This book highlights variation in local state structures and practices between localities and between the central and local governments. As the author shows, this variation is important because it results in regional differences in state-society relations and affects central state capacity in terms of the local state's ability to implement central state policies as well as its own.

Contents
 
 
 
 
 
 Maps, Tables, and Figures xiii
 Abbreviations xix
1 A Theory of the Local State 1
 Interpreting 1927-37 and
 1980-92 2/ The Local State 4/ The
 Importance of Variation in Local
 States 7/ Rethinking the Concept
 of State-Society
 Relations 10/ Local State
 Building 12/ Local State
 Building 14/ Modernity and State
 Building 15/ Focus on Taxation and
 Public Finance 19/ Cases and
 Sources 20/ Outline of the Book 24
 Part I
 Local States in Republican China,
 1927-1937
 Introduction to Part I 29
 The State During the Qing
 Era 29/ Financing the Qing
 State 32/ The State During the
 Republic 35/ Financing the
 Republican State 37
2 Local State Building in Guangdong
Province, 1927-1937 41
 The Economies, Politics, and
 Social Structure of Kaiping and
 Nanxiong 44/ The Provincial and
 Central Context of County
 Finance 51/ Measuring Provincial
 State Building 52/ Province-County
 Fiscal Relations 57/ Local
 Revenues and Expenditures in
 Kaiping and Nanxiong 58/ Formal
 and Informal Tax and Finance
 Organizations 72/ The Evolution of
 Provincial Tax Farming at the
 County Level 80/ Making Sense of
 State Building in Kaiping and
 Nanxiong, 1927-37 86
3 Local State Building in Hebei Province,
1927-1937 89
 Economic Overview of the
 Counties 90/ County
 Finances in Hebei 94/ Formal and
 Informal Tax and
 Finance
 Organizations 106/ Collecting
 Commercial Taxes: Patterns of Tax
 Farming 116/ Extrabureaucratic
 State Building 123
 Part II
 Local States in Post-Mao China, 1980-1992
 Introduction to Part II 133
 Politics and Public Finance During
 the War 133/ Politics and Public
 Finance During the Civil War,
 1946-49 137/ Public Finance and
 Taxation, 1949-58 138/ Tax and
 Public Finance During the Great
 Leap Forward 141/ Tax and Public
 Finance During the Cultural
 Revolution 143/ Tax and Public
 Finance During the Reform
 Period 144/ Did State Building
 Take Place During the Mao
 Years? 149
4 Local State Building in Guangdong
Province, 1980-1992 151
 Economics and Politics in the Two
 Counties 152/ Revenue Sharing and
 Its Effects on County
 Revenues 157/ County-Level State
 Building 168/ Explaining State-
 Building Outcomes 190
5 Local State Building in Tianjin
Municipality, 1980-1992 198
 Economics and Politics in Jinghai
 and Jixian Counties 198/ Budgets
 and Revenue Sharing in Tianjin
 Municipality 204/ County Income
 and Expenditures 212/ County-Level
 State Building in Tianjin
 Municipality 220/
 Explaining State Building in
 Jinghai and Jixian, 1980-92 235
6 Conclusion: Local State Building and
Local State Variation 239
 State Involution 239/ What Kinds
 of States Were
 Built? 242/ Local State
 Variations 244/ Sources of
 Isomorphism in Tax and Public
 Finance 252/ Consequences of Local
 State Building for the Central
 State 257/ Implications of the
 Approach Beyond Finance and Beyond
 China 259/ The Future of Tax and
 Public Finance in China 261
 Reference Material
 Notes 267
 Works Cited 289
 Index 309




Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Finance, Public China Guangdong Sheng History 20th century, Finance, Public China Tianjin History 20th century, Finance, Public China Hebei Sheng History 20th century, Taxation China Guangdong Sheng History 20th century, Taxation China Tianjin History 20th century, Taxation China Hebei Sheng History 20th century, Guangdong Sheng (China) Politics and government 20th century, Tianjin (China) Politics and government 20th century, Hebei Sheng (China) Politics and government 20th century, Local government China Case studies