The Transformation of Governance in Rural China
Cambridge University Press, 11/30/2014
EAN 9781107081758, ISBN10: 1107081750
Hardcover, 350 pages, 23.5 x 16 x 2.6 cm
Language: English
The outbreak of organised, violent peasant protests across the Chinese countryside from the late 1990s to the early 2000s has attracted much scholarly interest. In this study, An Chen endeavours to understand from these protests the question of the Chinese government's control in the countryside and the impact of this violent resistance on China's rural governance in the context of market liberalisation. Utilising extensive field research and data collected from surveys across rural China, the book provides an in-depth exploration of how rural governance in China has been transformed following two major tax reforms: the tax-for-fee reform of 2002–4, and the abolition of agricultural taxes (AAT) in 2005–6. In a multidimensional analysis which combines approaches from political science, economics, finance and sociology, Chen argues that private economic power has merged with political power in a way that has reshaped village governance in China, threatening to fundamentally change its political structure.
1. Introduction
2. The changing foundations of Communist rule in China's rural society
3. The 1994 tax reform and rural fiscal crises
4. The township in the era of reform
5. The mechanisms of political power in villages
6. Village finance
its deterioration and consequences
7. The abolition of agricultural taxes and village governance
8. Transformed peasant society and realignment in rural politics
9. Entrepreneur cadres as new rural ruling elites
10. Prospects for China's rural governance
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.