ABSTRACT
This chapter examines private entrepreneurs’ People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) participation a county-level jurisdiction in China’s southwest border region. It illustrates the function of the PPCC in contemporary Chinese political system, and discusses its role as the formal channel that links the Party-state with the private sector. The chapter describes the lowest level of the PPCC hierarchy, with the aim of answering a number of questions: how is the private sector represented in the PPCC? What are the motivations of private entrepreneurs in joining the PPCC? It includes does the PPCC membership come with any political power? Does such political participation provide an opportunity for these local economic elites to participate in the formal procedure of governance and in the broader scope of public affairs? The chapter shows that entrepreneurs’ involvement in PPCC activities is unlikely to be generator of democracy in a broad sense, there is a more nuanced picture of political evolution in China than is often portrayed.
