“Authoritarian Parochialism: Representation in Chinese Local Congresses”, a lecture in the Global China Studies series, was delivered on 9 March 2016 by Professor Melanie Frances Manion of Duke University.

Professor Melanie Manion is a scholar of political science at Duke University. The focus of her research is contemporary authoritarianism, and she has produced studies of political bureaucracy, corruption, information and representation in China.

During the lecture, she asked how Chinese township and county congresses are able to represent their constituents, given that congress meetings are brief and infrequent and policy making is dominated by higher levels of authority such as congress standing committees and Communist Party committees.

For more information about Global China Studies, please visit http://www.cityu.edu.hk/CLASS/GCS