China’s government in one word: Disorganized

A Rant by NS

View from China with an Austrian School of Economics Perspective

The image of China’s government painted in Western social media is that of a highly centralized and highly efficient top down organization. The reality is somewhat different.

China’s private sector is years ahead of the rest of the world in e-commerce and mobile payments, but its public sector is years — if not a decade or more — behind much of the West in e-government services.

China is so un-integrated among its provinces that it's probably worse than the US and incomparable to Europe. Example (and what prompted this post): In order to get my residence permit (which is done by the local police department), I have to notarize my marriage certificate BECAUSE IT'S FROM A DIFFERENT CHINESE PROVINCE. Apparently, there is no way for the local police to verify that this marriage certificate from another province is real. The kicker is that there are no "provincial police" in China. All police are in theory national police, i.e. while practically they are organized by provinces and cities, they report to Beijing – at least on paper.

And yet: Rules about what you need for a residence permit vary not just from province to province but from city to city. For example, I just found out I will have to do a medical exam for the residence permit.

“I didn't have to do that in Shanghai.”

“Shanghai is different.”

“But why is Shanghai different? This is a national immigration matter, not a local real estate deal!”

This is a list they gave me ("take a picture of it") of what I need to prepare. Some dude at my local police station scribbled it on a piece of paper.

I could go on. I know countless similar examples from friends and acquaintances who have lived in multiple provinces in China. You bring a document from one province to another (e.g. from Shanghai to Beijing) and they're like "what is this"? Even though it's a national matter.

During COVID if you traveled there were 31 QR codes at the airport check-in for 31 apps, for 31 provinces. Each province had its own incompatible app. There was no national one. You'd have to download the app for each province you were visiting, register and in many cases upload your test results, ID and so on.

It's the same with banks and SIM cards. I have 5 bank accounts in Beijing and 5 in Shanghai. Because I was outside China for a while, all of them are frozen and I can't use them. I have to update my passport/visa with the bank IN PERSON. China does have privately owned banks, but these are all state-run banks like the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank which have branches around the country. Yet if I walk into a local branch the teller will say “sorry Sir we can't update your document here, you have to go to the branch where you opened your bank account IN PERSON.”

So when I see some Atlantic Council China Expert write in The Economist how China has a Social Credit System, it really pisses me off. Not that he is clueless about how China works, but that he gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to make up shit he knows nothing about.

I don't even know how a Social Credit System would work in China in the present state of affairs. You'd have 31 Social Credit Apps and if you wanted to transfer your credits from one province to another you'd have to get the credits notarized.

“But I thought the CCP has everyone under their thumb, follows everyone, watches them have sex, and Xi Jinping adjusts everyone's social credit in his office and they want to implement it here in Florida.”

You thought wrong. The National Police don't even know I'm married much less that I threw away ice cream or a piece of paper on the street or jaywalked. In another province.

I know I'm gonna be relegated to cargo class next time I take the train but it had to be said: Chinese government services leave a lot to be desired.

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