Introduction: configurations of risk

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a preliminary investigation into the possibilities of utilizing some of the methods and concepts developed under the auspices of ‘govermentality’ in a Chinese context. The way in which the reproductive regularities of the population have emerged as a problem for Chinese governmental reasoning will serve as a point of departure to conduct this investigation. The goverment of reproduction is shown to involve techniques that differ in significant respects from those deployed in liberal government, in particular the reduced role of professional expertise and a reduced emphasis upon the construction of a self-governing subject. This paper also suggests that the development of a concept of the Chinese ‘race’ plays a pivotal role in the way in which the problem of the ‘quality’ of the population is formulated. The paper concludes with some reflections on the implications of this for work on govermentality.