Reflective Learning Journal

Village Elections

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Taiping Rebellion 1850-1864

Millenarian movement led by Hong Xiuquan

who believed himself to be the brother of Jesus

Christ

Revolt began in Guangxi and quickly spread

throughout southern China

When it was finally put down over 20 million

people were dead

Making it one of the worst military conflicts in

terms of casualties in history

• Prolonged period of instability culminating in the

abdication of the 6 year old Xuantong Emperor (Pu

Yi) in 1912

• China entered a period of

Warlords, turmoil and civil war

Chinese Civil War 1927-1949

Nationalist Guomindang versus Communist Gongchandang

Japanese Invasion and Anti-Japanese War 1935-

1945

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Estimated 8 million military and civilian civil war causalities.

Estimated 2.3 million died during the anti-Japanese war

Economic devastation

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Economic Recovery and the Adoption of the Soviet

Model

1952-54 Formation of mutual aid teams: Five/Eight Houses combining for work in

particular seasons, up to 20 houses cooperating on a year round basis

1954-55 Formation of lower stage agricultural cooperatives: Roughly 30 houses

pooling labour, land, property animals etc.

1956-67 Formation of higher stage agricultural producers’ cooperatives:

Containing between 100-300 houses, income distribution now decided on basis of

work points earned

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1958-59 Formation of people’s communes: 24,000 communes were set up to

carry out not only agricultural work but also such things as industrial work, trade,

education, military, affairs, health village administration and social welfare

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‘The Commune’s

Canteen is Powerful’

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People’s Commune in the national strategy

•Support urban industrialisation •Control agricultural production •Control food sales and purchase •Control labour mobility including rural-urban migration

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Sino-Soviet Split 1959

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Great Leap Forward

Radical Break with the Soviet Model

Attempt to make China completely self-sufficient

Massive focus on increasing production

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Hiding the truth: ignoring the famine

•Commune leaders versus peasants' interests •Appointment (and promotion) of commune leaders was from the central system •Exaggerating production yield in order to please the superior •Hiding the truth that people had no food from the central government

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An unprecedented disaster which led to the country being gripped by famine

Estimated between 20 and 43 million people died

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Peasants’ reaction towards the People's Commune system

•No tradition of participation in politics

•Education - lack of sense of democratisation •No information to reveal what happened outside the village - lack of mass media •Lack of strength to get organised

•Discontent could not be transferred into social movement. •Frightened to be persecuted - lack of protection by law or by legal system

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After 1978 reforms farmers gradually allowed to sell surplus

products

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“There is no formal government at the village level in China since

according to the PRC’s constitution, the township/town

government is the most basic level of government.

“Yet there does exist an informal quasi-governmental

administration in Chinese villages.” (Zhong 2003, 159)

Chinese Communist Party Branch

Villagers Committee

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According to the Constitution a Communist Party Branch is

established in any work unit or place where there are three or more

Party members.

Theoretically a Party branch exists in every village in China

“Present at the most

elementary social

levels” Brown 2011

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Branch is headed by Party Secretary with one or two

deputies

Officially elected by the general membership for a three

year term

Must be approved by higher Party organizations

Main decision making body

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All major decisions are made by

the party secretary

Recruitment of new members

Final authority of financial matters

Economic and Agricultural

cooperatives that were already in

existence during the commune era

Huaxi, Jiangsu ‘the richest village in

China’ - Party Secretary Hu Renbao

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Villagers Committee

Three to Six Members

Since the later 1980s these committees have been

elected by the villagers

“Originally a grassroots uprising without government

sanction in two Guangxi Province counties” (Zhong

2003, 163)

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The Organic Law of Village Committees sets the rules and regulations under

which the Chinese villagers may govern their villages as well as terms and

conditions for village elections.

After a trial implementation in 1987 the Organic Law of Village Committees

was fully adopted in 1998 by the National People’s Congress of China.

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Article 2 “The villagers committee is the

primary mass organization of self-government,

in which the villagers manage their own affairs,

educate themselves and serve their own needs

and in which election is conducted, decision

adopted, administration maintained and

supervision exercised by democratic means.

The villagers committee shall manage the

public affairs and public welfare

undertakings of the village, mediate disputes

among the villagers, help maintain public

order, and convey the villagers' opinions and

demands and make suggestions to the

people's government.

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Article 3 The primary organization of the Communist Party of China in the

countryside shall carry out its work in accordance with the Constitution of the

Communist Party of China, playing its role as a leading nucleus; and, in accordance

with the Constitution and laws, support the villagers and ensure that they carry out

self-government activities and exercise their democratic rights directly.

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Article 4 The people's government of a

township, a nationality township or a

town shall guide, support and help the

villagers committees in their work, but

may not interfere with the affairs that

lawfully fall within the scope of the

villagers self-government.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/Legislat

ionsForm2001-2010/2011-

02/12/content_21907260.htm

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Seminar Question

How successful has the experiment in

village democracy been and can it be

replicated at other levels of government?