Officialdom-Centric Rule: The Inevitability of Blood Remuneration and Hidden Rules Through the Millennia
Mr. Wu Si's theory, at its core, is founded upon the concept of "Officialdom-Centric Rule." This theory aims to deeply analyze the operational essence and deep-seated mechanisms of Chinese society from antiquity to the present, a perspective that significantly deviates from conventional understandings.
Wu's thinking began after he wrote Hidden Rules, where he was startled to find a stark contrast between the China depicted by official narratives and the reality he observed. This realization prompted him to seek a new lens through which to understand China. Upon completing The Law of Blood Remuneration, he gained an "X-ray vision" that allowed him to penetrate the internal structure of China, past and present, and was astonished to find their underlying mechanisms to be strikingly similar.
Compared to the absolutism of the West and the so-called "Oriental despotism" of Central and South Asia, China exhibits numerous significant differences that cannot be fully encapsulated by existing concepts. To accurately describe this unique social form, Wu Si coined the term "Officialdom-Centric Rule" in 2004.
For over two decades since, "Officialdom-Centric Rule" has been Wu Si's primary research topic, as he diligently pursued its characteristics in various aspects. Wu asserts that "Officialdom-Centric Rule" is a towering tree, and its manifestation in the economic sphere is precisely what his work describes as the "Crippled" phenomenon.
The "Crippled" Thesis: Of Incomplete Property Rights and Markets
"Crippled" is the core concept Wu Si uses to describe the economic characteristics of a society governed by "Officialdom-Centric Rule." Its meaning is this: within the grand unified social structure of Officialdom-Centric Rule, all economic entities, whether individuals or organizations, lack effective means of resistance and redress when faced with infringement from top-level power.
The pervasive and irresistible nature of this top-level power gives rise to two key concepts:
First, "Crippled Property Rights": Due to the infringement of top-level power, the property rights of economic entities are incomplete and fragmented. This incompleteness does not stem from market competition or natural risks, but rather from the constant erosion and expropriation of property rights by power. Under this system, the stability, integrity, and predictability of property rights are severely diminished.
Second, "Crippled Market": As property rights are crippled, the market itself becomes incomplete and fragmented. A healthy and effective market requires clear and stable property rights as its foundation. When property rights are "crippled," the efficiency, fairness, and optimal resource allocation functions of market mechanisms are severely limited. Economic entities, when investing, producing, and trading, must factor in the uncertainty arising from top-level power, which greatly distorts market behavior and stifles economic vitality.
The Law of Blood Remuneration and Hidden Rules: Unveiling the Depths of History
Wu Si's academic framework is a progressively layered system, with his concept of "Officialdom-Centric Rule" being rooted in his two earlier significant works: The Law of Blood Remuneration and Hidden Rules.
Hidden Rules aims to expose the "unspoken rules" within Chinese society—those universally followed, yet rarely publicly acknowledged, norms of behavior that exist outside formal institutions and mainstream ideology. This book dissects various hidden rules prevalent in officialdom and different social strata, demonstrating that beneath the surface of official regulations lies a clandestine, yet truly operational, logic.
The Law of Blood Remuneration delves even deeper, exploring the most fundamental exchange relationship between violence and survival resources that underlies these rules. Its core concept, "blood remuneration," refers to the rewards obtained through risking one's life, embodying the exchange between life and survival resources. Wu posits that the most violent, powerful actors often define the rules, and even justice, based on their own maximized interests. Thus, this law reveals that when the gains from violent plunder outweigh its costs, violent plunder will occur.
China's Present and Historical Turning Points through the Lens of Officialdom-Centric Rule
When extrapolating from Mr. Wu Si's theories, many current phenomena in China appear to be an inevitable consequence of its historical trajectory. This is because "officialdom" has consistently remained the primary allocator of resources and formulator of rules, a position that has never fundamentally shifted. This leads to the persistence of "crippled property rights" and a "crippled market," where the property rights of all economic entities remain under the potential threat of top-level power. Furthermore, "hidden rules" continue to prevail, playing a crucial role in resource allocation, project approval, business competition, and even social governance through personal connections and power rent-seeking. Added to this is the underlying influence of "The Law of Blood Remuneration," whose "meta-rule"—that the most violent dictates—remains the ultimate arbiter of all other rules.
Looking back at the last two hundred years of Chinese history, genuine turning points that could have altered this "inevitability" are hard to find. From the late Qing Dynasty's Self-Strengthening Movement and the Hundred Days' Reform, to the establishment of the Republic after the Xinhai Revolution, and even the founding of the People's Republic of China and the subsequent reform and opening-up period, while these were periods of significant change, Wu's theories might interpret them as strategic adjustments and upgrades of Officialdom-Centric Rule itself, rather than fundamental subversions. This is because these historical shifts largely failed to fundamentally challenge or change the deep-seated structure of "Officialdom-Centric Rule" and the underlying logic of "The Law of Blood Remuneration." The restraint on top-level power remained absent, the independence of property rights was never truly secured, the breeding ground for "hidden rules" persisted, and the meta-rule of the most violent continued to hold sway.
Therefore, from Wu's perspective, the "inevitability" of China's current situation is not fate, but rather the consequence of a specific structure and logic operating over a long period. Whether a truly transformative "turning point" will emerge in the future depends on whether these deep-seated structures can genuinely be challenged and changed.
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