We study the interplay between legitimacy competition and financial repression under China's state capitalism in inducing CSR disclosures. We investigate the mechanism behind the surge in “voluntary” CSR disclosures under a government-led deleveraging campaign and verify the surge was not a spillover from other policies. CSR disclosures of firms that are more susceptible to legitimacy pressure rose during the deleveraging shock. Although such disclosures were of lower quality covering few CSR aspects they helped easing credit access. These results suggest some firms raised unsophisticated CSR disclosures to gain legitimacy for easier credit access under a more difficult financing environment.