In The Gilded Cage: Technology, Development, and State Capitalism in China, sociologist Ya-Wen Lei examines social changes from the mid-2000s in China. The book ambitiously explores almost every aspect of China’s sociotechnical life, capturing how the state and tech companies intertwine to co-produce a new sociotechnical order in the digital age. Lei contends that the Chinese state’s pursuit of technological development has led to a complex interplay of economic growth, social control, and inequality.
Lei employs a “cage-bird” metaphor to describe the relationship between the economy and state, originating from former Chinese leader Chen Yun’s analogy where the bird symbolizes the economy, and the cage represents the state planning/control. Lei interprets birds as industries and businesses, and the cage as “numerous legal rules and technical instruments, such as metrics, classification systems, and digital platforms … [that] steer, foster, and control techno-development” (9). The title Gilded Cage, therefore, encapsulates the contradictions of techno-state capitalism in China: on one hand, it has successfully fostered tech giants that can compete with the US, while, on the other, the state’s instrumental power has significantly increased, enhancing control over the economy and society.
