ABSTRACT

Despite the extensive reforms of the last 30 years, government still plays a major role in the lives of China’s citizens. The actions of government, whether it is on birth control, allocating land use, or deciding which services to provide for its citizens, have a fundamental impact on everyday lives and the potential for people to live a contented life. Yet we know very little about what China’s citizens think about their government, the motives of their officials, and what they think about the services provided. This chapter seeks to provide some preliminary answers by looking at citizen satisfaction with government performance across a number of indicators. Since taking power in 2002-2003, General Secretary Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have committed themselves to improving the quality of governance and, in particular, improving the lot of those who have not benefitted so well from the reforms to date. In fact the Chinese Communist Party has accepted that it is no longer a revolutionary party but a governing party that must modernize its management capabilities.1 With the transition from a centrally planned economy to one that makes greater use of market mechanisms, government agencies need to shift their role from concentrating on economic construction to thinking about better public service provision. In this process of adjustment it is reasonable to presume that, if citizens are more satisfied with government performance and the provision of goods and services, the government will have a greater capacity for policy experimentation and enjoy a residual trust that may help them survive policy errors. A number of writers have pointed out the relationship between citizen confidence in government and the capacity to implement laws and policies and reduce the need for coercion.2