I've read a book or two about the government in China - some were excellent, some less so. What is common to all of them is loads of insight into the Chinese culture and psyche when regarding the behaviour of public servants. This book goes into the various kinds of relationships that policymakers have with their constituents and clients, and there is a lot more nuance than I'd previously thought.
This one, specifically, describes various kinds of societal organisation - corporatism, clientelism, pluralism, monism and others in the China paradigm. The strange thing is that the only thing that hasn't changed in the centuries of Chinese civil service/business relationships is that there's always a palm to grease and a hand to shake. The book goes into the tactics that lobbyists undertake, which are primarily based on long-term relationships.
It's kind of strange that in China, one has "his man in the government" to get things done at the local level, but never at the highest levels of government. As I'd mentioned in "Corruption by design", the higher up the chain goes, the less corrupt but the more straight-up evil. If ever I do undertake communications with Chinese state representatives, this book will certainly be a crutch and a guide-stick.
9/10