季風人文講壇第92期：Ning Leng

Politicizing Business: How Firms Are Made to Serve the Party-State in China

with Ning Leng 冷凝

December 19, 2025｜In English

Professor Leng reveals how firms in China are embedded in the Party-state’s political agenda. Despite market reforms, the state has never granted businesses full autonomy; instead, officials routinely demand political services from companies to advance state objectives. The book explains the authoritarian logic behind this politicization, what the state expects from firms, how compliance is enforced, and why private companies often lose out to state-owned enterprises in competing to serve the Party-state.

About the Speaker 

Ning Leng is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on China’s political economy, authoritarian politics, censorship, state–business relations, and China’s global influence. She is a 2025–26 Wilson China Fellow.