State-society configuration: strong state vs. weak society -- 1 Statist and societal explanations for the likelihood of a top-down transition -- 4 Hypotheses, sources, and methods -- 9 Hypotheses -- 9 Sources and methods -- 17 Plan of book -- 22 Chinese communist party and bureaucratic elite in post-Mao reform -- 29 Post-Mao leadership-bureaucracy relationship: Effective political control over effective bureaucracy -- 31 Different approaches to post-Mao leadership-bureaucracy relationship -- 31 The general office system -- 33 Explaining post-Mao leadership-bureaucracy relationship -- 37 Confucian tradition and Chinese bureaucratic system -- 37 The development of leninist state system -- 43 CCP and the post-Mao reform -- 52 Bureaucratic elites' image of the post-Mao party leadership -- 56 The role of bureaucracy in China's democratic process -- 72 Different images of Chinese bureaucracy in the political process -- 73 Bureaucratic elites' self-interests in the political system -- 76 Bureaucratic elites' concern with unity and stability in China -- 78 Conclusion -- 85 Problems of political opposition in inducing democracy in China -- 91.