Book Talk
A Legal Theory of State-Owned Enterprises: The China Experience
Date & Time: October 28, 2026 (Wednesday) 11:00-12:00
Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong
Language: English
(In-person Event)
Abstract:
Currently, the dominant explanations for the prevalence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China include the theory of state capture and the theory of political ideology. This book offers a legal theory of SOEs. It argues that the privatization of SOEs is better understood as a process of legalization rather than liberalization, since the state often continues to regulate private enterprises even after privatization. Such a process requires clearly defining the boundaries between public power and private property, which entails significant social costs because of the incompleteness of law. Legislatures and policymakers cannot easily foresee all possible circumstances when enacting the law, leading to possible opportunistic actions by private firms and the necessity of residual state control over emergencies. The continued prevalence of SOEs in China can be partly explained by the difficulty of using law rather than state ownership to govern firms, especially in sectors where the protection of private property conflicts with state priorities. Such sectors include water utilities, coal mining, commercial banking, and infrastructure, where competing state goals complicate the full privatization of the market. Therefore, it is essential to guard against the “legal centrist view,” which assumes that law is inherently superior to state ownership. Privatizing SOEs is not merely the transfer of equity—it demands the establishment of advanced legal and regulatory frameworks, making it a complex and gradual endeavor.
Speaker/Author:
Professor James Si Zeng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Professor Zeng works on Corporate Law and Law and Finance in China. His independently authored works have appeared or will appear in highly selective peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Law and Economics, American Journal of Comparative Law, American Business Law Journal, American Bankruptcy Law Journal, International Review of Law and Economics, European Business Organization Law Review, Journal of Environmental Law, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Peking University Law Journal, Global Law Review, Political Science and Law, and Hong Kong Law Journal, as well as leading student-edited law reviews such as the Columbia Journal of Asian Law, N.Y.U. Journal of Law and Business, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Berkeley Business Law Journal, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, and Review of Banking and Financial Law. His doctoral dissertation, State Ownership as a Substitute for Costly Regulation, was supported by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School and has been published by Cambridge University Press.
Discussants:
Professor Yuping Lin, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr Zhicheng Huang, Research Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
Moderator:
Professor Weilin Xiao, Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of Philip K. H. Wong Centre for Chinese Law, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong
This is an in-person event. Prior registration is required. Please click here to register. For inquiries, please email Louisa at .
This event is organized by the Philip K. H. Wong Centre for Chinese Law (CCL) and co-organized by the Asian Institute of International Financial Law (AIIFL), Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.
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For more information about AIIFL, please visit: https://aiifl.law.hku.hk/.