Basket Case: Reform and China’s Social Credit Law

Abstract The social credit system ( scs ) has become a cornerstone of China’s drive toward informatization in pursuit of its governance goals. Its definition and scope, two decades in the making, have evolved dramatically over time, however. What began as a financial tool for the stimulation of market-based activity has been applied in a broader regulatory context as well as in the propagation of a state-arbitered moral-legal agenda. Layered on top of these sometimes conflicting ambitions has been a persistent tension in central-local implementation, further complicating rollout of the system. Domestic criticism of the scs in policy and academic circles has led to a clamor for reform, culminating in the publication of a number of clarificatory documents, including a draft version of a Social Credit Law in November 2022. This article provides a genealogy of this new law, exploring the origins and evolution of the scs and its governing legal logic.