The Construction and Logic of Markets and Property in China

Produced by Yijia Publishing + Dudaoshe

Following "Hidden Rules" and "The Law of Blood Remuneration," historian Wu Si presents his new work, "Top Residue," which comprehensively analyzes the underlying logic of the Chinese market and property rights using his theory of "Officialism."

What is "Top Residue"? Wu Si coined this term to describe the fundamental dilemma faced by economic entities in a unified society where power controls resource allocation: incomplete property rights, fragile rights, and a segmented market. Once top-level power intervenes, individuals and businesses lack basic resistance and institutional guarantees. This situation is neither a free market nor a traditional planned economy, but rather a "power-embedded-in-market" structure with Chinese characteristics.

This book draws a structural diagram, revealing how state power is embedded in market mechanisms, creating layers of obstacles in institutional arrangements, and forming a "top residue state" that is neither entirely about property rights nor entirely about the market. In this system, resources are graded by institutions, and rights are nested layer by layer. State power, under the guise of "overall planning," continuously intervenes in economic activities through a tax-like institutional extraction.

Wu Si summarizes this structural feature as "Officialism." He points out that "Officialism" inherits the monarchical tradition of ancient China, representing an institutional system where state power fully permeates social resource allocation and economic organization. Through a set of institutional designs such as licenses, permits, quotas, ISBNs, and exclusive franchises, power can participate in the market in a tax-like manner, shaping a "graded market" structure with "clear hierarchies and unequal status." He named it "Ranked Market."

This book is the first systematic description of "Officialism" in the economic sphere. It profoundly reveals a market ecosystem embedded by power, capped by institutions, and fractured at the bottom, from the perspectives of property rights, market, resource allocation, and commodity pricing, helping us understand China's economic logic and property rights structure.

2025-03-20

1 Plus Books

250

9781966814054