A U-Turn or Just Pendulum Swing? Tides of Bottom-Up and Top-Down Reforms in Contemporary China

The active promotion of top-level design (dingceng sheji) by the Xi Jinping administration since 2014 has raised concerns that the overemphasis on top-level design could dramatically have constrained or even eliminated the space for bottom-up policy experimentation and innovation. Does the Xi administration’s emphasis on top-level design necessarily indicate the end of China’s long-term practice of local policy innovations? What does this significant turn in China’s reform path mean for the country’s future reforms and its possible trajectory of development? Are there any meaningful and critical differences in the reform agendas, reform priorities, and effects since the Xi administration’s call for top-level designs? This study proposes a new typological framework to theorize the nature and dynamics of China’s political reforms. Using pertinent official documents issued by different administrations, this study examines distinct reform approaches and mechanisms. Previously collected data is used to provide an approach to a systematic descriptive analysis of the shifts in China’s reform priorities between the so-called bottom-up era (i.e., between the 1990s to 2013 with the dominance of local initiatives) and the so-called top-down era (i.e., since 2013 with the salience of and emphasis on central design and guidance). In conclusion, the article provides suggestions for further related research.