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| Jacob Abrahamson Class of 2017 |
Dr. Richard Dilworth of Drexel University recently gave a talk entitled “China’s Urban
Future” as a part of the Center for Asian Democracy’s Asia in Focus lecture series. The talk focused on how urbanization has a tendency to destabilize economies, institutions, and societies; however, one of the most interesting aspects of his presentation was his discussion of local power in China.
Local power would likely be last on my list of programs the Chinese central government
supports, but according to Dilworth, the Chinese Association of Mayors is becoming increasingly important to the everyday function of Chinese government as urbanization progresses. It makes sense within the context of the destabilization of institutions as a result of urbanization. According to Dilworth, overcapacity has placed more and more stress on cities to provide services despite a lack of suitable tax revenue. Only about 50% of local taxes are kept, while the rest are sent to the central government, yet cities pay for around 80% of the services provided to the people. Because of this, local debt has increased.
The Chinese central government eventually must realize that some decentralization must
take place in order for cities to effectively, and cost-efficiently, serve their citizens. In the United States, despite an increase in top-down decision making and federal power during the 20th century, local government is still a strong tradition. Most of our interaction with government entities, on a daily basis, are with local government. With that in mind, I look forward to looking for similarities between Chinese local governments and American when I visit. Before this semester, my knowledge of China was very limited, so comparing this brand-new system to what
I already know is likely my best route to understanding, and I get more and more excited every day to do just that. I am lucky that we’ll be visiting Shanghai, X’ian, and Beijing, so I will get to see three different city governments in action during my time in China. One obstacle is that the pure scale and scope of Chinese cities is much different. X’ian, the “small city” on the trip, is bigger than most of the largest American cities, so the city governments I see will operate in a way most Americans are unfamiliar with. With these challenges and opportunities to learn in mind, and the information I gather from my course on China this semester, I look forward to expanding my own perception of the world in China this summer.
Jacob Abrahamson is a junior McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville. He studies history and political science.