New Books Network Ning Leng, "Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China" (Cambridge, 2025)
Feb 4, 2026
Ning Leng, Assistant Professor at Georgetown specializing in Chinese political economy, examines how officials turn private firms into political tools. She discusses visible projects like bridges, buses, and incinerators. Topics include officials’ incentives for grand projects, firms’ roles in social control, NIMBY dynamics, and challenges of fieldwork in China.
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Bridge Over Practicality
- Ning Leng recounts the Qingdao bridge vs. tunnel decision where the mayor chose a showy bridge over a practical tunnel.
- The bridge became a loss-making, duplicate infrastructure project forced onto a state-owned firm serving the mayor's visibility needs.
Visibility As A Promotion Strategy
- Visibility projects arise because local officials face information asymmetry and uncertain promotion paths.
- Building larger, more visible projects becomes a competitive strategy to get noticed by higher-ups.
Audience Shapes Project Logic
- Visibility projects differ between democracies and autocracies by audience: voters vs. upper-level officials.
- In autocracies, larger-scale showpieces matter more than local utility because the audience is distant and values verifiability.
