The Transformation of Governance in Rural China

An Chen (Ph.D., Yale University, Connecticut) is Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore and a former Senior Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is the author of Restructuring Political Power in China: Alliances and Opposition, 1978-1998 (1999). His recent publications have appeared in Politics and Society, Political Science Quarterly, Modern Asian Studies, China Quarterly, Modern China, Democratization, the Journal of Democracy, and the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.

• 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.

'This is a thorough and comprehensive analysis of China's rural politics during the reform era. The author traces the effect of the dramatic changes - decollectivization, marketization, privatization, tax reforms - on the power and status of grassroots cadres. He argues that in major parts of rural China village cadres have lost both administrative as well as the redistributive power to allocate public good. The result has been a crisis of rural governance. The exception is a large group of new leaders who combine both entrepreneurial and political roles, but who also pose an implicit challenge to Party control. The book is the result of twelve years of research, using all applicable methods. The author deals skillfully with the increasing complexity of the rural political, economic, and social landscape. The rich detail of this excellent book will challenge readers but those who persist will be amply rewarded.' Thomas P. Bernstein, Columbia University, New York