“Administrative monopolies” (xingzheng longduan) is a term that is
widely used in public discourse in China but, like many similar terms in
China, lacks a uniformly accepted definition. It loosely refers to various
acts of government agencies that confer monopoly status on certain
enterprises or otherwise limit competition. The root of administrative
monopolies in China can be traced to the historical era of planned
economy in which the state controlled or “monopolized” almost all aspects
of the economy. In the post-communist era, despite a reduced and
reformed role of the state in the economy, administrative monopolies are
still among the most anticompetitive restraints on competition in China.1
Policymakers in China have long realized the competitive harms of
administrative monopolies and have sought to rein them in through
various laws and regulations. The most recent efforts to limit
administrative monopolies are embodied in the Antimonopoly Law
(“AML”),2 which devotes an entire chapter to the prohibition of
administrative monopolies. These efforts, however, often target only a
subset of government restraints that should be addressed as
administrative monopolies. And even on their own terms, these efforts
often fail to adequately address the problems at hand. In the meantime
civil society protests and certain general reform measures have shown
some, though limited, promises for tackling administrative monopolies.
This essay provides an overview of administrative monopolies in
China, with an emphasis on recent developments both under the AML and
in general reforms pertaining to administrative monopolies. It starts with
a discussion of various types of government restraints in China, and the
extent to which those government restraints are captured by the term
“administrative monopolies.” It then provides an overview of the laws
and regulations China put in place in recent years to curb administrative
Wentong Zheng, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville.
