When Politics Meets Markets in China

This event brings together two recently published Cambridge University Press books: Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China by Ning Leng and Governing Digital China by Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo. Offering complementary yet distinct perspectives, the books examine how the Chinese state engages with firms. Leng shows how businesses are systematically mobilized to provide “visibility projects” and social control services, often in tension with market logic, creating an uneven playing field between private firms and state-owned enterprises.

Stockmann and Luo introduce the concept of “popular corporatism” to highlight the bottom-up influences of China's largest platform firms and its citizens. They reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms.

Ting Luo is an Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Government, University of Birmingham. Dr Luo’s research focuses on digital governance and policy, particularly on how digital development shape politics and governance. Her work draws on empirical evidence from China, which she places within a broader comparative framework to generate insights relevant to global contexts. Dr Luo holds a PhD in government and a Master of Science in public policy and administration from LSE.

Ning Leng is an Assistant Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University. Dr. Leng specializes in the political economy of China and Global China, and the institutional effects of authoritarianism.

Her work on domestic China includes publications on the motivations, methods, and outcomes of state control over businesspeople, academics, and government officials. Her work on Global China includes public opinion of China in the Global South, and Chinese investments and China’s legal influence in South America. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in journals including Comparative Political Studies, Review of International Organizations, and The China Journal, among others.

Dr. Leng received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and was a postdoc at Harvard University's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. She is a Wilson China Fellow for the year of 2025-2026.

The MCI is a listed building and therefore does not have any lifts. Please note that you must use the stairs in order to access the venue and the toilets.

The organisers will be taking photos during this event. If you prefer not to be included in any photos, kindly inform the organisers before the event starts.

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Host or Publisher The Manchester China Institute