China’s ‘Qin System’ Discourse Returns as a Coded Critique of Administrative Legibility and Social Fragmentation
The source describes a niche but politically charged revival of the “Qin system” metaphor on Chinese platforms such as Zhihu, where users translate everyday pressures into a systemic critique of centralization and weakened social autonomy. The discourse gained salience after the dynamic zero-COVID period, framing modern governance as institutional sorting that limits exit, bargaining, and durable horizontal ties.