Lawless part of the circle in revolutionary China (8)
I believe the answer is:
anarchic
'lawless' is the definition.
('anarchic' can be a synonym of 'lawless')
'part of the circle in revolutionary china' is the wordplay.
'part of the circle' becomes 'arc' ('arc' is part of 'circle').
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'revolutionary' indicates anagramming the letters.
'china' with letters rearranged gives 'anhic'.
'arc' placed inside 'anhic' is 'ANARCHIC'.
(Other definitions for anarchic that I've seen before include "Totally without rules" , "With no ruling principles to give order" , "Lacking order" , "Disorderly" , "Revolutionary" .)