Despite the destabilizing potential of governing of a vast territory and a large multicultural population, the centralized government of the People's Republic of China has held together for decades, resisting efforts at local autonomy. By analyzing Beijing's strategies for maintaining control even in the reformist post-Mao era, Centrifugal Empire reveals the unique thinking behind China's approach to local governance, its historical roots, and its deflection of divergent interests.

Centrifugal Empire examines the logic, mode, and instrument of local governance established by the People's Republic, and then compares the current system to the practices of its dynastic predecessors. The result is an expansive portrait of Chinese leaders' attitudes toward regional autonomy and local challenges, one concerned with territory-specific preoccupations and manifesting in constant searches for an optimal design of control. Jae Ho Chung reveals how current communist instruments of local governance echo imperial institutions, while exposing the Leninist regime's savvy adaptation to contemporary issues and its need for more sophisticated inter-local networks to keep its unitary rule intact. He casts the challenges to China's central–local relations as perennial, since the dilution of the system's "socialist" or "Communist" character will only accentuate its fundamentally Chinese—or centrifugal—nature.

"The most complete account available of China’s unique combination of centralized policy making and delegated implementation." - Foreign Affairs

"Jae-Ho Chung’s Centrifugal Empire is that rarest of books, one that is rich with empirical and historical detail, structured along several illuminating analytical dimensions, and written in prose that is mercifully jargon-free and a pleasure to read." - China Quarterly

"Insightful and timely.... Overall, this comprehensive and definitive book on China's central-local relations is a must read for scholars interested in related issues." - Choice

"Centrifugal Empire is an excellent book—one of the most comprehensive accounts published on China’s central-local relations, and an important contribution to the field. It is highly recommended and suitable for sinologists and non-sinologists alike. Students may find this book a useful guide and a good starting point for delving into the complex world of Chinese governance. And it is definitely the kind of book that specialists want to have on their shelves." - Pacific Affairs

"This is a short work, but one in which every sentence contributes something to the overall argument.... A must read for anyone who wishes to understand precisely how China works." - Asian Review of Books

"Page after page, Centrifugal Empire becomes a constant source of inspiration and thoughts on China’s governance, and it reveals how the very evolution of the perpetual tension between the center and the provinces...is at the core of any possible speculation on China’s future." - Global Politics Review