Abstract: The "small horse pulling a big cart" phenomenon in primary-level governance describes a structural imbalance where primary-level organizations (townships,sub-districts) shoulder responsibilities far exceeding their authorized staffing,capacity,and jurisdictional authority.This authority-accountability mismatch tends to generate selective implementation,perfunctory enforcement,and collusive practices,ultimately undermining governance effectiveness.Addressing this requires transcending both the isomorphic responsibility-pressure paradigm and mere technical and institutional solutions,instead achieving organic integration of upward accountability and downward responsiveness.It emerges as an optimal approach to center on residents' pressing concerns and leverage "citizen voices" to activate top-down governance actions.Digital deliberation - characterized by spatiotemporal transcendence,scalability,real-time interaction,and transparency - serves dual purposes:aggregating public wisdom while integrating fragmented bureaucratic structures.The synthesis of deliberative democracy and digital technology not only resolves micro-deliberation's inherent challenges of scale,accountability,and legitimacy but also presents a viable solution to the "small horse" dilemma.Huai'an's practice of "instant deliberation through QR-based online platform" demonstrates how digital deliberation achieves this through:(1) Resource leveraging that enables bottom-up identification,integration,and activation of resources,transforming allocation from task-oriented to demand-driven while converting passive recipients into proactive actors;(2) Coordinated response that fosters cross-tier,cross-sector collaboration through information sharing and shared accountability,enabling integrated territorial-functional management that shifts governance from "pressure transmission" to "coordinated empowerment".This process essentially rebalances instrumental and value rationality,constructing an inclusive,responsive governance ecosystem for primary-level needs.

Key words: primary-level governance, digital deliberation, small horse pulling a big cart, resource leveraging, coordinated response