Rethinking “the Third Sphere”: The Dualistic Unity of State and Society in China, Past and Present

This article reconsiders the author’s multiple pieces over the years about “the third sphere” between state and society in China, past and present, to explain more clearly its connection with the “centralized minimalism” tradition of Chinese governance, and to summarize multiple positive and negative empirical examples to make explicit how state and society have interacted, complemented, or mutually shaped one another in a dualistic whole. The article examines the logics and mechanisms in that changing third sphere from imperial to modern times, and from the collective era to the Reform era of China. The article includes also a discussion of and dialogue with Li-An Zhou’s theory of “administrative contracting.” The article further attempts to provide a prospective vision for a distinctively Chinese political-legal and political-economic system.