ABSTRACT
This chapter is a theoretical summary of the book. By telling the story of the Dahe dam’s migrants’ petitions, the author exposed power operation in either the “top-down” or “bottom-up” approach in post-Mao China when the state was confronted with collective petition in the reform era. From the “top-down” perspective, the author analyzed the genealogy of petition and the weapons of the weak, and how the peasants utilized the skill of “problematization” and the recognition schema of “corrupt officials vs. upright official” in particular. From the “bottom-up” perspective, the author studied the state’s governmentality and how the state alternatively applied three power techniques of “ba ding zi” (getting rid of the trouble maker), “kai kou zi” (bending the rules), and “jie gai zi” (holding the subordinate officials accountable) according to different situations and how the state utilized the recognition schema of “villains vs. the people.” Despite the fact that power techniques of the “top-down” approach contradicted with the “bottom-up” approach to some extent, the cunning history showed that gradual development and interaction of two power techniques reproduced the state power’s legitimacy and effectiveness from numerous contradictions and difficulties, so the general governance in the people’s commune period was gradually transformed to comprehensive governance applied in the reform era.
