Abstract:

As has been made clear, “building digital China is an important engine to promote Chinese-style modernization in the digital era”.But, does the vision in the “The Overall Layout of Digital China”address and respond to the most prominent practical challenges in Chinese-style modernization such that the Overall Layout can fulfill the mission of turning China into a “mathematically manageable” country Drawing on classical perspectives from organizational rationality analysis, this study used a conceptual framework to investigate the extent of to which modernization in state organizations could be established. The framework was later used to explore the boundaried connections among Digital China, the modernization of state organizations, and the national governance system. Balancing instrumental rationality and value rationality in this conceptual framework corrected the bias towards viewing technology importation and adoption as sufficient conditions for organizational modernization. The modernization of state organizations is not simply about efficiency increases in technology and equipment, but rather their endogenous pluralistic compatibility and dynamic response to public value. To achieve the vision of Digital China, the nation must develop a technology-enabling plan with reasonable costs and benefits, clear divisions of responsibility, and compatible performance assessments and incentives. This will inevitably require greater explorations of the “platform” wisdom of demand symbiosis and the value co-creation now existing between the ruling party and the state, the central and local governments, and the state and the society.

Key words: digital China, mathematically management, state organization, modernization