China’s Social Credit System is the website of a research project by the Coalition for Peace and Ethics and by FLIA, and entitled ‘China’s Social Credit Initiative in a Global Context‘
‘Social Credit’ is a code-word for the boldest and most ambitious governance reform program launched by China since 1978. The use of big data and big data technologies to monitor compliance with complex webs of state, private, and societal regulation is by no means unique to China. In the European Union and in the United States, big data is a key asset which already drives governance, as well as policy-making processes. So are disclosure and compliance regimes. With these facts in mind, the project has the goals of:
- exploring the challenges and the opportunities the emergence of social credit presents to the People’s Republic of China, and to the rest of the world;
- producing high-quality, non-partisan knowledge on social credit in China;
- compiling and updating a database of relevant central, provincial, and sub-provincial laws, regulations, and standards;
Closely related to these three main goals are those of understanding the structure of the social credit system in China; shedding light on theoretical and conceptual issues in social credit in China, and how it fits the Basic Line; understanding social credit in a global context, and as a current trend in China.
The project started in June 2017. By February 2018, it has already resulted in:
- an international conference entitled “Global Perspectives on Law
and Social Credit Systems”, held at the Ko Guan Law School, Shanghai Jiaotong University (September 2017); - several papers, analyses and shorter opinion pieces. Most of these are available on Law at the End of the Day, on the website of the Coalition for Peace and Ethics, and on the Forgotten Archipelago Blog;
- a growing database of laws and regulations on social credit in China
Information about the items in our database (indexes, titles and updates included) is accessible to our members. If you are not involved in the research project, you can:
- visit the blog, and subscribe to our free newsletter. The newsletter is compiled and sent out once a week. It presents facts and documents as they are;
- use our free content. Free content can be found under the ‘Uncategorized’ category, and is published periodically.
To report an issue with a specific page, article, or item on this site, or for common questions, you can contact the editor, Dr. Flora Sapio, at this page.