Concealing Corruption: How Chinese Officials Distort Upward Reporting of Online Grievances
Abstract
A prerequisite for the durability of authoritarian regimes as well as their effective governance is the regime’s ability to gather reliable information about the actions of lower-tier officials. Allowing public participation in the form of online complaints is one approach authoritarian regimes have taken to improve monitoring of lower-tier officials. In this paper, we gain rare access to internal communications between a monitoring agency and upper-level officials in China. We show that citizen grievances posted publicly online that contain complaints of corruption are systematically concealed from upper-level authorities when they implicate lower-tier officials or associates connected to lower-tier officials through patronage ties. Information manipulation occurs primarily through omission of wrongdoing rather than censorship or falsification, suggesting that even in the digital age, in a highly determined and capable regime where reports of corruption are actively and publicly voiced, monitoring the behavior of regime agents remains a challenge.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Lower-level Chinese officials are often effective at limiting the flow of grassroots grievances to higher officials.
“That said, lower-level Chinese officials are often effective at limiting the flow of grassroots grievances to higher officials (88).”
From Physical and virtual repertoires of contention (2022) · cites this paper as [88]
Cites
How Censorship in China Allows Government Criticism but Silences Collective Expression
KING, G., PAN, J., & ROBERTS, M. E. (2013) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055413000014 · Cited by 2,415 · cited 1× · see citing works
“In the digital age, these citizen complaints are often posted online where they remain uncensored and publicly accessible (King, Pan, and Roberts 2013).”
BackgroundSelf-citationStructural Topic Models for Open‐Ended Survey Responses
Roberts, M. E., Stewart, B., Tingley, D. H., Lucas, C., Leder-Luis, J., Gadarian, S. K., Albertson, B. L., & Rand, D. G. (2014) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12103 · Cited by 1,969 · see citing works
Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
Olken, B. A. (2005) · Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1086/517935 · Cited by 1,949 · see citing works
The net delusion: the dark side of Internet freedom
Murphy, D. M. (2011) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-7161 · Cited by 1,906 · see citing works
(2009) · Cited by 1,900 · see citing works
Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies
O'Donnell, G. A. (1998) · Journal of Democracy · doi:10.1353/jod.1998.0051 · Cited by 1,175 · see citing works
Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule
Magaloni, B. (2008) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414007313124 · Cited by 1,125 · see citing works
The Political Economy of Dictatorship
Wintrobe, R. (1998) · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139174916 · Cited by 1,008 · see citing works
China's Changing of the Guard: Authoritarian Resilience
Nathan, A. J. (2003) · Journal of democracy · doi:10.1353/jod.2003.0019 · Cited by 923 · see citing works
State Capacity and Local Agent Control in China: CCP Cadre Management from a Township Perspective
Edin, M. (2003) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0009443903000044 · Cited by 855 · see citing works
Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia
Olken, B. (2005) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w11753 · Cited by 831 · see citing works
The Political Economy of Dictatorship
Munger, M. C., & Wintrobe, R. (1998) · Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d économique · doi:10.2307/136507 · Cited by 795 · see citing works
The Role of the Local State in China's Transitional Economy
Oi, J. C. (1995) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741000004768 · Cited by 775 · see citing works
Authoritarian Deliberation: The Deliberative Turn in Chinese Political Development
He, B., & Warren, M. E. (2011) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592711000892 · Cited by 664 · see citing works
Political Order and One-Party Rule
Magaloni, B., & Kricheli, R. (2010) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.031908.220529 · Cited by 636 · see citing works
Sources of Authoritarian Responsiveness: A Field Experiment in China
Chen, J., Pan, J., & Xu, Y. (2016) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12207 · Cited by 636 · see citing works
Self-citationSelective Policy Implementation in Rural China
O’Brien, K. J., & Li, L. (1999) · Comparative Politics · doi:10.2307/422143 · Cited by 606 · see citing works
Media Commercialization and Authoritarian Rule in China
Stockmann, D. (2012) · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139087742 · Cited by 596 · see citing works
Bureaucracy, politics, and decision making in post-Mao China
(1992) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.29-6521 · Cited by 588 · see citing works
Consent of the networked: the world-wide struggle for Internet freedom
Ainhoa de Frutos García, R. (2012) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.50-0700 · Cited by 539 · see citing works
Computer-Assisted Text Analysis for Comparative Politics
Lucas, C., Nielsen, R. A., Roberts, M. E., Stewart, B., Storer, A., & Tingley, D. H. (2015) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1093/pan/mpu019 · Cited by 487 · see citing works
Political Trust in Rural China
Li, L. (2004) · Modern China · doi:10.1177/0097700403261824 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Regularizing Rioting: Permitting Public Protest in an Authoritarian Regime
Lorentzen, P. (2013) · Quarterly Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1561/100.00012051 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
Corrupting the Cyber-Commons: Social Media as a Tool of Autocratic Stability
Gunitsky, S. (2015) · Perspectives on Politics · doi:10.1017/s1537592714003120 · Cited by 465 · see citing works
Juking the Stats? Authoritarian Information Problems in China
Wallace, J. (2014) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123414000106 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests versus Surveillance and Propaganda
Qin, B., Strömberg, D., & Wu, Y. (2017) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.31.1.117 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
3 Horizontal Accountability in New Democracies
O'Donnell, G. A. (1999) · Lynne Rienner Publishers eBooks · doi:10.1515/9781685854133-004 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
Constituency Service Under Nondemocratic Rule: Evidence from China
Distelhorst, G., & Hou, Y. (2016) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/690948 · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Kung, J. K., & CHEN, S. (2011) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055410000626 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Truex, R. (2016) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781316771785 · Cited by 290 · see citing works
Accommodating “Democracy” in a One-Party State: Introducing Village Elections in China
O’Brien, K. J., & Li, L. (2000) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741000008213 · Cited by 288 · see citing works
Selective Policy Implementation in Rural China
O’Brien, K. J., & Li, L. (2016) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/9789004302488_017 · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Regularizing Rioting: Permitting Public Protest in an Authoritarian RegimePreprint
Lorentzen, P. (2010) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.995330 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule
Ikenberry, G. J., Kalathil, S., & Boas, T. C. (2003) · Foreign Affairs · doi:10.2307/20033442 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
The structural topic model and applied social sciencePreprint
Roberts, M. E., Stewart, B., Tingley, D. H., & Airoldi, E. M. (n.d.) · RePEc: Research Papers in Economics · Cited by 231 · see citing works
(2010) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.48-2396 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Deliberative Democracy in an Unlikely Place: Deliberative Polling in China
Fishkin, J. S., He, B., Luskin, R. C., & Siu, A. (2010) · British Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1017/s0007123409990330 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
Kou, C.-W., & Tsai, W. (2014) · The China Journal · doi:10.1086/674558 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
The Cadre Evaluation System at the Grass Roots: The Paradox of Party Rule
Whiting, S. H. (2004) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511617157.004 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Networked Authoritarianism and Social Media in Azerbaijan
Pearce, K. E., & Kendzior, S. (2012) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01633.x · Cited by 187 · see citing works
From Internet to social safety net: The policy consequences of online participation in China
Jiang, J., Meng, T., & Zhang, Q. (2019) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12391 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Liberation Technology: The Battle for the Chinese Internet
Xiao, Q. (2011) · Journal of democracy · doi:10.1353/jod.2011.0020 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Whyte, M. K. (2011) · Harvard University Asia Center eBooks · doi:10.1163/9781684171217_021 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Conditional Receptivity to Citizen Participation
Meng, T.-G., Pan, J., & Yang, P. (2017) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414014556212 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationPark, A. F., & Wang, S. (2001) · China Economic Review · doi:10.1016/s1043-951x(01)00066-9 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
The Cadre Evaluation System at the Grass Roots: The Paradox of Party Rule
Whiting, S. H. (2016) · BRILL eBooks · doi:10.1163/9789004302488_018 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Hacking with Chinese Characteristics
Lindtner, S. (2015) · Science Technology & Human Values · doi:10.1177/0162243915590861 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Internal Government Assessments of the Quality of Governance in China
Dimitrov, M. K. (2015) · Studies in Comparative International Development · doi:10.1007/s12116-014-9170-2 · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Administrative Monitoring in China
Huang, Y. (1995) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741000015071 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Between State and Peasant: Local Cadres and Statistical Reporting in Rural China
Cai, Y. (2000) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741000014661 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule
Kalathil, S., & Boas, T. C. (2010) · doi:10.2307/j.ctt6wpj9n · Cited by 96 · see citing works
The Returns to Office in a “Rubber Stamp” Parliament
Truex, R. (2014) · American Political Science Review · doi:10.1017/s0003055414000112 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Microblogs and the Adaptation of the C hinese P arty‐ S tate's Governance Strategy
Noesselt, N. (2013) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12045 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
FACTIONS AND SPOILS: EXAMINING POLITICAL BEHAVIOR WITHIN THE LOCAL STATE IN CHINA
Hillman, B. (2010) · The China Journal · doi:10.1086/tcj.64.20749244 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Dimitrov, M. K. (2013) · East European Politics and Societies and Cultures · doi:10.1177/0888325413506933 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Information for Autocrats: Representation in Chinese Local Congresses.
Nathan, A. J. (2016) · Foreign Affairs · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests versus Surveillance and PropagandaPreprint
Qin, B., & Wu, Y. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2910223 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
The Power of "Troublemaking": Protest Tactics and Their Efficacy in China
Chen, X. (2009) · Comparative Politics · doi:10.5129/001041509x12911362972557 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
The Technocratic Politics of Administrative Participation: Case Studies of Singapore and Vietnam
Rodan, G., & Jayasuriya, K. (2007) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510340701635662 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Does it pay to be a cadre? Estimating the returns to being a local official in rural China
Zhang, J., Giles, J., & Rozelle, S. (2012) · Journal of Comparative Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2012.04.006 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Understanding the Falsification of Village Income Statistics
Tsai, L. L. (2008) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741008001136 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Information for Autocrats: Representation in Chinese Local Congresses
Manion, M. (2015) · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“Bypass the Lying Mouths”: How Does the CCP Tackle Information Distortion at Local Levels?
Gao, J. (2016) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741016001491 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
The Rise of Social Accountability in China (社会问责在中国的兴起)
Ma, J. (2012) · Australian Journal of Public Administration · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8500.2012.00770.x · Cited by 39 · see citing works
How Chinese Officials Use the Internet to Construct Their Public Image
Pan, J. (2017) · Political Science Research and Methods · doi:10.1017/psrm.2017.15 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationElites and Governance in China
Zang, X. (2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203067918 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
From Internet to Social Safety Net: The Policy Consequences of Online Participation in ChinaPreprint
Jiang, J., Meng, T., & Zhang, Q. (2017) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2975456 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
In search of China's development model : beyond the Beijing Consensus
Hsu, S. P., Wu, Y., & Zhao, S. (2012) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203834817-9 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Who's Afraid of Wikileaks? Missed Opportunities in Political Science ResearchPreprint
Michael, G. J. (2014) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.1111/ropr.12120 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Information Collection and Anticorruption in China
Cai, Y. (2010) · Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Pan, J. C., & Chen, K. (2018) · Harvard Dataverse · doi:10.7910/dvn/2hrrc7 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 72 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests versus Surveillance and Propaganda
Qin, B., Strömberg, D., & Wu, Y. (2017) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.31.1.117 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Earl, J. (2022) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.abl8198 · Cited by 250 · see citing works
Self-citationAuthoritarian Audiences, Rhetoric, and Propaganda in International Crises: Evidence from China
Weiss, J. C., & Dafoe, A. (2019) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1093/isq/sqz059 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Anderson, S. E., Buntaine, M. T., Liu, M., & Zhang, B. (2019) · American Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1111/ajps.12428 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Capturing Clicks: How the Chinese Government Uses Clickbait to Compete for Visibility
Lu, Y., & Pan, J. (2021) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2020.1765914 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
Self-citationInformation capacity and social order: The local politics of information integration in China
Chen, H., & Greitens, S. C. (2021) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12592 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Information Politics and Propaganda in Authoritarian Societies
Rosenfeld, B. R. M., & Wallace, J. (2024) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-041322-035951 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Topics, Concepts, and Measurement: A Crowdsourced Procedure for Validating Topics as Measures
Ying, L., Montgomery, J., & Stewart, B. (2021) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1017/pan.2021.33 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Buntaine, M. T., Zhang, B., & Hunnicutt, P. (2021) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2015175118 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Public Sentiment on Chinese Social Media during the Emergence of COVID19
Lu, Y., Pan, J., & Xu, Y. (2021) · Journal of Quantitative Description Digital Media · doi:10.51685/jqd.2021.013 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Self-citationAuthoritarian transparency: China's missing cases in court disclosure
Liu, Z., Wong, T. J., Yang, Y., & Zhang, T. (2021) · Journal of Comparative Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2021.09.001 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Boulianne, S., Oser, J. L., & Hoffmann, C. P. (2023) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448231176519 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Cosmetic Responsiveness: Why and How Local Authorities Respond to Mundane Online Complaints in China
Wang, Y., & Han, R. (2022) · Journal of Chinese Political Science · doi:10.1007/s11366-022-09798-z · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Timoneda, J. C., & Vera, S. V. (2024) · The Journal of Politics · doi:10.1086/730737 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Political Self-Censorship in Authoritarian States: The Spatial-Temporal Dimension of Trouble
Chang, C., & Manion, M. (2021) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/0010414021989762 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Public administration in authoritarian regimes: propositions for comparative research
Chan, K. N. (2024) · Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration · doi:10.1080/23276665.2024.2306554 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
The Geopolitical Threat Index: A Text-Based Computational Approach to Identifying Foreign Threats
Trubowitz, P. L., & Watanabe, K. (2021) · International Studies Quarterly · doi:10.1093/isq/sqab029 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Ma, X. (2022) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.001.0001 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
To know is to act? Revisiting the impact of government transparency on corruption
Schnell, S. (2023) · Public Administration and Development · doi:10.1002/pad.2029 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Li, P., Lu, Y., Lü, P., & Wang, J. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103066 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Judicial Transparency as Judicial Centralization: Mass Publicity of Court Decisions in China
Chen, L., Liu, Z., & Tang, Y. (2021) · Journal of Contemporary China · doi:10.1080/10670564.2021.2010871 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Lei, Z. (2022) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/00104140221139389 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Hao, W., Cheng, E. W., Chen, X., & Liang, H. (2024) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12907 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Seeking Truth and Hiding Facts
Wallace, J. (2022) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.001.0001 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Blow the Lid Off: Public Complaints, Bargaining Power, and Government Responsiveness on Social Media
Wang, Q., Liu, M., Xu, J., & Zhang, B. (2023) · Environmental and Resource Economics · doi:10.1007/s10640-023-00761-x · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Accountability from cyberspace? Scandal exposure on the Internet and official governance in China
Chen, S., & Li, Y. (2023) · Political Science Research and Methods · doi:10.1017/psrm.2023.13 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
The Functions of Letters to the Editor in Reform-Era Cuba
Dimitrov, M. K. (2019) · Latin American Research Review · doi:10.25222/larr.232 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
van den Dool, A., & Li, J. (2023) · Policy Studies Journal · doi:10.1111/psj.12502 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Chan, K. N., Lam, W. F., & Chen, S. (2020) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.12543 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Deng, Y., Yang, Z., & Ma, X. (2021) · Journal of Chinese Governance · doi:10.1080/23812346.2021.1945284 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Big Data
Karpa, D. F., Klarl, T., & Rochlitz, M. (2022) · Advanced studies in diginomics and digitalization · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-04063-4_8 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Li, Y., Zhu, Y., & Owen, C. (2022) · Journal of Chinese Governance · doi:10.1080/23812346.2022.2035487 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Intergovernmental Conflict and Censorship: Evidence from China’s Anti-Corruption Campaign
Zhuang, M. (2022) · Journal of the European Economic Association · doi:10.1093/jeea/jvac036 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
A “China in the World” Paradigm for Scholarship
Fravel, M. T., Manion, M., & Wang, Y. (2021) · Studies in Comparative International Development · doi:10.1007/s12116-021-09317-w · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Political elites and the “War on Truth’’
Bräuninger, T., & Marinov, N. (2022) · Journal of Public Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104585 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Enhancing Research on Authoritarian Regimes through Detailed Comparisons of China and Vietnam
Malesky, E. J. (2021) · Problems of Post-Communism · doi:10.1080/10758216.2020.1865822 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
The Ambient Politics of Affective Computing
Wu, A. X. (2022) · Public Culture · doi:10.1215/08992363-9435427 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Shirking When Bureaucratic Accountability Is Due? Evidence from Managing Severe Safety Accidents
Su, S., & Wang, R. (2024) · Public Performance & Management Review · doi:10.1080/15309576.2024.2335298 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Transfer learning for topic labeling: Analysis of the UK House of Commons speeches 1935–2014
Béchara, H., Herzog, A., Mikhaylov, S., & John, P. C. (2021) · Research & Politics · doi:10.1177/20531680211022206 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Yang, Y., McCabe, S., & Hindman, M. (2024) · The International Journal of Press/Politics · doi:10.1177/19401612241271074 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Intergovernmental Conflict and Censorship: Evidence From China’s Anti-Corruption CampaignPreprint
Zhuang, M. (2018) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3267445 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
The Adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party
Dimitrov, M. K. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009184335 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Tang, L., & Xu, W. (2025) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103115 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Mechanical Responsiveness: China’s Online Petition System
Hu, J., Gong, X., & Zhao, Y. (2025) · The China Quarterly · doi:10.1017/s0305741025000220 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Patronage and pollution abatement
Chu, Y., Holladay, J. S., & Tian, X.-L. (2025) · Journal of Public Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2025.105519 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Chen, K., Lee, N. R., & Marble, W. (2018) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3251651 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationChen, K., Lu, Y., & Wang, Y. (2023) · Chinese Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/17544750.2023.2264406 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationMunir, S., Sadiq, S., Abbas, N., & Rasul, F. (2024) · Sustainable Business and Society in Emerging Economies · doi:10.26710/sbsee.v6i3.3089 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Policy processes in China: a systematic review of the multiple streams framework
van den Dool, A., & Qiu, T. (2024) · Policy & Politics · doi:10.1332/03055736y2024d000000038 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Boţa‐Avram, C. (2024) · The Journal of Risk Finance · doi:10.1108/jrf-10-2023-0256 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Unveiling the Making of Trending Topics on a Digital Platform: A Research Note on Chinese Sina Weibo
Liu, X., Zhao, J., Li, Z., Wang, D., & Chen, A. (2025) · Social Science Computer Review · doi:10.1177/08944393251324647 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Regularized Campaigns as a New Institution for Effective Governance
Shen, S. V., Wang, Q., & Zhang, B. (2025) · Policy Studies Journal · doi:10.1111/psj.70052 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Courts as Monitoring Agents: The Case of China
Dong, X., & Voigt, S. (2020) · International Review of Law and Economics · doi:10.1016/j.irle.2022.106046 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Judicial recentralization as political control: Evidence from the judicial leader rotation in China
Li, Z., & Wang, Z. (2023) · Social Science Quarterly · doi:10.1111/ssqu.13289 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Voice and Value: How Elected Officials Evaluate Online and Offline Constituent Feedback
Lee, N. R., Chen, K., Marble, W., & Bram, C. (2025) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfaf006 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationAutomatizált szöveganalitika a korrupció kutatásában
Katona, E., & Németh, R. (2021) · Socio hu · doi:10.18030/socio.hu.2021.1.108 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
China in the World: A New Paradigm for ScholarshipPreprint
Fravel, M. T., Manion, M., & Wang, Y. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3627893 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Bureaucratic Incentives and Government Responsiveness in China
Jee, H. (2026) · Governance · doi:10.1111/gove.70114 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Computational methods in Chinese Internet studies— An overview and looking ahead
Chen, K. (2024) · Communication and the Public · doi:10.1177/20570473241264895 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationChina’s internet controls: What if citizens disengage?
DeButts, M., & Pan, J. (2024) · Communication and the Public · doi:10.1177/20570473241267966 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Self-citationFan Engagement with Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling on Weibo
Gao, G., & Chen, D. (2024) · Journal of Contemporary China · doi:10.1080/10670564.2024.2389249 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Zhao, X., & Cheng, Z. (2024) · Public Administration and Policy · doi:10.1108/pap-11-2023-0157 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Assessing the efficacy of China's anti-corruption drive: Insights from consumer expenditure patterns
Xu, Z. (2025) · European Journal of Political Economy · doi:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2025.102680 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The Information Politics of COVID-19 in China
Manion, M. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-15-9362-8_8 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Political Patronage, Infrastructure, and Economic Growth: Evidence from ChinaPreprint
Lei, Z. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3556948 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Li, Z., & Wang, Z. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3884714 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Shen, S. V., Wang, Q., & Zhang, B. (2023) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4371501 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
The paradox of citizen grievances in China: an institutional logics perspective
Kong, F., & Su, X. (2021) · International Review of Administrative Sciences · doi:10.1177/00208523211009957 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
A theory of symbiotic corruption
Chen, X., Gui, L., Wu, T., & ZHANG, J. (2024) · Journal of Comparative Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2023.12.005 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Information foundations of state capacity: evidence from the imperial bureaucracy of China
Zhang, X. (2025) · Social Forces · doi:10.1093/sf/soaf106 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Dimitrov, M. K. (2025) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/00104140251381735 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Institutional Ambiguity Enables Successful Centralization: Evidence From China and Vietnam
Trinh, M., & Lu, W. W. (2025) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.1177/00104140251381737 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Kong, X., & Dong, B. (2025) · Information Processing & Management · doi:10.1016/j.ipm.2025.104438 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Neumann, M. F., Yao, J., Franz, M. M., Ridout, T. N., & Fowler, E. F. (2026) · Journal of Information Technology & Politics · doi:10.1080/19331681.2026.2631147 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Yuan, M., & Swedlow, B. (2026) · Review of Policy Research · doi:10.1111/ropr.70118 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.003.0006 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Transparency laws, corruption and the quality of government: comparing India and China
Ghosh, S., & Kumar, Y. (2024) · Asian Journal of Political Science · doi:10.1080/02185377.2024.2351384 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Bogs, A. (2024) · Regulation & Governance · doi:10.1111/rego.12646 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Political Elites and the ‘War on Truth’Preprint
Bräuninger, T., & Marinov, N. (2020) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3555458 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Xiang Gao, Delegation and Development: Local Government in China’s Market Transition
Ma, X. (2021) · Journal of Chinese Political Science · doi:10.1007/s11366-021-09743-6 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Zu, Z. (2026) · Comparative Political Studies · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5652392 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Sun, Y., & Yuan, B. (2017) · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0201
Analysis of Decision Logic in Reporting Behavior from the Perspective of Internet
Deng, S. (2019) · Open Journal of Social Sciences · doi:10.4236/jss.2019.74024
Information Structure and Organization Performance: Evidence from the Imperial Bureaucracy of ChinaPreprint
Zhang, X. (2021) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3849139
Libman, A., & Rochlitz, M. (2019) · doi:10.4337/9781788972192.00012
The “Cardinals” and the “Clerics”
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0004
The Political Geography of High-Speed Railways
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0005
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0007
Bureaucracies and Localized Bargaining
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0002
Local Ambitions in Central Policymaking
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0003
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0006
Ma, X. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197638910.003.0001
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.003.0008
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.003.0001
Investigations Correlated with Economic Risk
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.005.0002
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.002.0003
Evaluation Document Database List
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.005.0001
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.003.0003
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.002.0004
Wallace, J. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197627655.003.0005
- Authors
- PAN, J., & CHEN, K.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- PAN, JENNIFER
- CHEN, KAIPING
- Venue
- American Political Science Review
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2018-06-06
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 602-620
- ISSN
- 0003-0554 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5943
- OpenAlex
- W2805967013
- Cited by
- 125
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 33.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Political Science Review (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Corruption and Economic Development
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Conflict and Governance
- Keywords
- citizen complaints, patronage networks, information manipulation, omission, censorship, Chinese officials, citizen participation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
