The intergovernmental relationship of the new administrative reform system in China: A case study of Province Directly Manages Counties (PDMC)

China has a long history of reforming the system of provinces and its intergovernmental relations, but this has not achieved comprehensive success. Currently, most provinces in China have only implemented the reform of 'Province Directly Manages Counties' (PDMC) in the fiscal sector. However, they are confronted with several challenges that impede the reform process. Hence, this qualitative study aimed to examine the relationship between counties and their higher governmental level and explore the PDMC reform, challenges and possible solutions in the subsequent implementation approaches. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 informants, selected via snowball sampling. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis and revealed several significant themes such as 'provincial government pressure', 'asymmetry power' and 'adjustments in governance levels'. The findings therefore revealed that many of the problems currently exist in provincial reform showed certain connections with the failure to implement the reform of PDMC in the administrative system. Theoretically, this study contributed to the use of fiscal decentralization theory, management hierarchy theory and government function allocation theory in the context of PDMC reform process and implementation in China. Practically, the study found that the promotion of the relationship between province and its lower government level and PDMC can be reasonably promoted from the administrative aspect. Subsequently, this study can help the PDMC follow-up on progress, rather than only dealing with superficial problems. Therefore, it is suggested that future research could involve relatively special provinces such as the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and other areas where ethnic minorities gather. The existence of different customs and traditions in these regions may result in the implementation of distinct reform strategies and the emergence of unique challenges.