Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T13:17:20.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

China's Campaign to Build a New Socialist Countryside: Village Modernization, Peasant Councils, and the Ganzhou Model of Rural Development*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2015

Kristen E. Looney
Kristen E. Looney*
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese government has promoted village modernization under the banner of “building a new socialist countryside.” To explain the origins and outcomes of this policy, this article examines the case of Ganzhou city in Jiangxi province. Ganzhou became a national model for rural development known for involving organizations called peasant councils in policy implementation. The study found that despite an initial emphasis on rural participation and moderate change, the new socialist countryside evolved into a top-down campaign to demolish and reconstruct villages. Three factors shaped this process: the strength of bureaucratic mobilization, the weakness of rural organizations, and shifting national policy priorities. After obtaining model status, Ganzhou's rural policy became more ambitious and politicized, leaving little space for participation. This insight suggests there are both benefits and costs to China's policy process. Despite the advantages of policy innovation, scaling up local experiments may actually undermine their success.

摘要

21 世纪头十年的中期以来, 中国政府在建设社会主义新农村的口号之下推动乡村现代化。本文通过分析江西省赣州市的案例试图解释该政策的来龙去脉。赣州作为农村发展的全国性模式, 利用农民理事会推动政策实行。本研究发现, 尽管政策最初强调农民参与和渐进式改变, 但是在很多地方, 新农村建设最后演化成一场自上而下、大拆大建的运动。造成这个结果有三个因素: 行政体制过于强势, 农民组织的孱弱, 以及国家政策的转变。在成功取得国家模式地位后, 赣州的农村政策变得更加雄心勃勃, 其目的趋向政治化, 农民参与的空间更为压缩。这种见解显示, 中国的政策制定和实施既有实惠, 又有代价。尽管地方政策创新获益良多, 然而从地方实验提升到国家政策将削弱其成功。

Keywords

building a new socialist countrysideChina; rural developmentrural housingpolitical participationpolicy implementation建设社会主义新农村农村发展乡村住房政治参与政策实施
Type
Articles
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 224 , December 2015 , pp. 909 - 932
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

I gratefully acknowledge funding support from the Fulbright-Hays Program and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. I want to thank Elizabeth Perry, Roderick MacFarquhar, Timothy Colton, Katharine Moon, Meg Rithmire, Didi Kuo, Kyle Jaros, Maria Repnikova, Rachel Stern, Christine Kim, Joel Andreas, Jennifer Hsu, Cal Clark, Edward Gibson and Richard Locke for providing helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References

Ahlers, Anna L., and Schubert, Gunter. 2013. “Strategic modelling: ‘building a new socialist countryside’ in three Chinese counties.” The China Quarterly 216, 831–849.Google Scholar
Bernstein, Thomas P., and Lü, Xiaobo. 2003. Taxation without Representation in Contemporary Rural China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bislev, Ane, and Thøgersen, Stig (eds.). 2012. Organizing Rural China – Rural China Organizing. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Bray, David. 2013. “Urban planning goes rural: conceptualising the ‘new village’.” China Perspectives 2013(3), 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Jun, Chen, Yisheng and Liu, Shaoyun. 2012. “Guanyu cunmin lishihui de diaocha yu sikao” (Investigation and reflection on villager councils). Jianghuai fazhi 17, 55–57.Google Scholar
Day, Alexander F. 2013. The Peasant in Postsocialist China: History, Politics, and Capitalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, John A. 2011. Small Works: Poverty and Economic Development in Southwestern China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Fang, Ming, and Jun, Liu (eds.). 2006. Xin nongcun jianshe zhengce lilun wenji (Essays on Building a New Countryside, Policy and Theory). Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu gongye chubanshe.Google Scholar
Ferlanti, Federica. 2010. “The new life movement in Jiangxi province, 1934–1938.” Modern Asian Studies 44(5), 961–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gannan Daily News Group. 2009. “Xin nongcun jianshe wu zhou nian te kan” (Building a new countryside's five-year anniversary special issue), Xin Ganzhou, 25 November.Google Scholar
Ganzhou City Government. 2004. Document No. 17: “Guanyu jiaqiang shehuizhuyi xin nongcun jianshe gongzuo de jueding” (Decision on strengthening efforts to build a new socialist countryside).Google Scholar
Ganzhou City Government. 2010. Document No. 6: “Guanyu yinfa Ganzhou shi shehuizhuyi xin nongcun jianshe fazhan guihua (2010–2015) de tongzhi” (On releasing Ganzhou city's building a new socialist countryside 2010–2015 development plan).Google Scholar
Ganzhou NSC Leading Group. 2005. “Ganzhou shi shehuizhuyi xin nongcun jianshe fazhan gangyao, 2005–2010” (Ganzhou city's building a new socialist countryside 2005–2010 development plan).Google Scholar
Ganzhou NSC Leading Group. 2010. Document No. 6: “Guanyu yinfa Ganzhou shi 2010 nian xin nongcun jianshe cunzhuang zhengzhi jianshe deng shier ge danxiang gongzuo shishi ji kaoping fang'an de tongzhi” (On releasing Ganzhou city's 2010 building a new countryside implementation and evaluation standards for village renovation and 12 other projects).Google Scholar
Ganzhou Party Committee. 2010. Document No. 10: “Guanyu yinfa Ganzhou shi 2010 nian shehuizhuyi xin nongcun jianshe gongzuo fang'an de tongzhi” (On releasing Ganzhou city's 2010 building a new socialist countryside programme).Google Scholar
Göbel, Christian. 2010. The Politics of Rural Reform in China: State Policy and Village Predicament in the Early 2000s. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Grindle, Merilee S. (ed.). 1980. Politics and Policy Implementation in the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hale, Matthew. 2013. “Reconstructing the Rural: Peasant Organizations in a Chinese Movement for Alternative Development.” PhD diss., University of Washington.Google Scholar
Heilmann, Sebastian. 2008. “From local experiments to national policy: the origins of China's distinctive policy process.” The China Journal 59, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsing, You-Tien. 2010. The Great Urban Transformation: Politics of Land and Property in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Yongming (ed.). 2009. Ganzhou tongji nianjian (Ganzhou Statistical Yearbook). Ganzhou: Ganzhou tongjiju.Google Scholar
Kennedy, John James. 2007. “From the tax-for-fee reform to the abolition of agricultural taxes: the impact on township governments in north-west China.” The China Quarterly 189, 43–59.Google Scholar
Kim, Ilpyong J. 1973. The Politics of Chinese Communism: Kiangsi under the Soviets. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Leng, Xinsheng (ed.). 2012. Ganzhou nianjian (Ganzhou Yearbook). Ganzhou: Ganzhou shi renmin zhengfu.Google Scholar
Li, Lixing. 2012. “Land titling in China: Chengdu experiment and its consequences.” China Economic Journal 5(1), 47–64.Google Scholar
Li, Yun, and Buji, Ling (eds.). 2006. Gannan dangshi renwu zhi, 1949–2005 (Gannan Party History Biographical Gazetteer, 1949–2005). Beijing: Beijing Zhongguo wenshi chubanshe.Google Scholar
Li, Zuojun (ed.). 2008. Lingdao ganbu juece da cankao: Zhongguo xin nongcun jianshe baogao (Leading Cadres’ Decision-making Reference Book: China's Building a New Countryside Report). Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe.Google Scholar
Lin, Justin Yifu. 2012. Demystifying the Chinese Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lin, Wanlong, and Wong, Christine. 2012. “Are Beijing's equalization policies reaching the poor? An analysis of direct subsidies under the ‘three rurals’ (sannong).” The China Journal 67, 23–45.Google Scholar
Liu, Mingxing, Wang, Juan, Tao, Ran and Murphy, Rachel. 2009. “The political economy of earmarked transfers in a state-designated poor county in western China: central policies and local responses.” The China Quarterly 200, 973–994.Google Scholar
Liu, Moyan. 2006. “Lun Ganzhou moshi dui wo guo xin nongcun jianshe de yingxiang” (The Ganzhou model's influence on China's new rural construction). In Zhongguo nongye jingji xuehui 2006 nian nianhui ji shehuizhuyi xin nongcun jianshe xueshu yanjiu luntan wenji (China Agricultural Economics Association 2006 Annual Meeting and Building a New Socialist Countryside Research Forum Proceedings), 1 November, 160–171. Available at: http://www.cnki.net/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=CPFD2007&filename=NJXH200611001021&dbcode=CPFD&v=MDk3NDFvOUZaZXNORFJNNHptVVdtVDhJVGdyZ3F4TkdEN3FRS3JpZlp1TnZIeWpnVTdmTEpGMGRLeWZUWnJHNEh0Zk5y. Accessed 14 September 2015.Google Scholar
Liu, Shian, and Qiqiang, Wu. 2013. “Ganzhou zhengce hongli puhui baixing jin 70 wan hu tupi fang jiakuai gaizao” (Ganzhou policy benefits the people, nearly 700,000 households to renovate mud-brick homes), Renmin ribao, 6 July.Google Scholar
McGregor, Richard. 2006. “China launches ‘new deal’ for farmers,” Financial Times, 23 February.Google Scholar
Ong, Lynette H. 2014. “State-led urbanization in China: skyscrapers, land revenue and ‘concentrated villages’.” The China Quarterly 217, 162–179.Google Scholar
Pan, Yiyang. 2002. Nongmin zhutilun (A Peasant-centred Theory). Beijing: Renmin chubanshe.Google Scholar
Peng, Yongping (ed.). 2012. Jiangxi tongji nianjian (Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook). Beijing: Zhongguo tongji chubanshe.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 2011. “From mass campaigns to managed campaigns: ‘constructing a new socialist countryside’.” In Heilmann, Sebastian and Perry, Elizabeth J. (eds.), Mao's Invisible Hand: The Political Foundations of Adaptive Governance in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 30–61.Google Scholar
Quick, Stephen A. 1980. “The paradox of popularity: ‘ideological’ program implementation in Zambia.” In Grindle, Merilee S. (ed.), Politics and Policy Implementation in the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 40–63.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Lior. 2013. “Urbanising the rural: local strategies for creating ‘new style’ rural communities in China.” China Perspectives 2013(3), 63–71.Google Scholar
Saich, Tony. 2007. “China in 2006: focus on social development.” Asian Survey 47(1), 32–43.Google Scholar
Sargeson, Sally. 2002. “Subduing ‘the rural house building craze’: attitudes towards housing construction and land use control in four Zhejiang villages.” The China Quarterly 172, 927–955.Google Scholar
Sargeson, Sally. 2013. “Violence as development: land expropriation and China's urbanization.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 40(6), 1063–85.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shicheng NSC Leading Group. 2009. “Quanli tuijin minfu cunmei xin shicheng jianshe – Shicheng xian wu nian xin nongcun jianshe gongzuo zongjie” (Fully promote construction of a prosperous, beautiful new Shicheng – Shicheng county's building a new countryside five-year summary).Google Scholar
Sun, Zhengcai (ed.). 2008. Nongcun gaige lilun yu shijian: 1978–2008 (Rural Reform, Theory and Practice: 1978–2008). Beijing: Zhongguo nongye chubanshe.Google Scholar
Tang, Yuying (ed.). 2009. Ganzhou nianjian (Ganzhou Yearbook). Ganzhou: Ganzhou shi renmin zhengfu.Google Scholar
Thøgersen, Stig. 2009. “Revisiting a dramatic triangle: the state, villagers, and social activists in Chinese rural reconstruction projects.” Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 38(4), 9–33.Google Scholar
Tsai, Lily L. 2007. Accountability without Democracy: Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tsang, Steve. 2009. “Consultative Leninism: China's new political framework.” Journal of Contemporary China 18(62) 865–880.Google Scholar
Uphoff, Norman, and Esman, Milton J.. 1974. Local Organization for Rural Development in Asia. Ithaca, NY: Rural Development Committee, Center for International Studies at Cornell University.Google Scholar
Weller, Robert P. 2008. “Responsive authoritarianism.” In Gilley, Bruce and Diamond, Larry (eds.), Political Change in China: Lessons from Taiwan. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reiner, 117–133.Google Scholar
Wen, Rui, and Shengxiang, Chen. 2007. “Zhengfu zhudao yu nongmin zhuti de hudong – yi jiangxi xin nongcun jianshe diaocha fenxi wei li” (Interaction of the government leads and peasants as the main actors – survey analysis of Jiangxi's building a new countryside). Zhongguo nongcun jingji 1, 4–11.Google Scholar
White, Tyrene. 2006. China's Longest Campaign: Birth Planning in the People's Republic, 1949–2005. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Xue, Longyi, Wang, Mark Y. and Xue, Tao. 2013. “‘Voluntary’ poverty alleviation resettlement in China.” Development and Change 44(5), 1159–80.Google Scholar
Yeh, Emily. 2013. Taming Tibet: Landscape Transformation and the Gift of Chinese Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar