A Critical Review of Political Trust in Rural China
Introduction to Chinese Society & Culture
A Critical Review of Political Trust in Rural China
Introduction From the article of Political Trust in Rural China, Lianjiang Li is the author of this article and he is an associate professor in the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has recently paid attention to do research of the impact of village elections and the organized rights struggle in rural China. (Li, 2004) The article shows how some Chinese villagers regard the central and local government as an entirety and more treat separately. This phenomenon reflects three parts of political trust in rural China. The rural people are obviously losing confidence in the local government.
Content The author used plenty of interviews and survey data from 1999 to 2001 to support his view. Firstly, these evidences indicate that some villagers consider that the state government is unified and reliable, while some think it unified and unreliable. Most of villagers deem the state separately and more trust the higher levels than lower levels. Be short of free media in rural China that fortifies the trust of villagers in Beijing. For instance, one 50 years old man from Anhui thought the government was both unified and good said, “My life is much better than that of my grandfather, who was a landlord”. Another example is a farmer of Jiangxi distrust any parts of government said, “ In my opinion, up to the Center, down to the village, officials protect each other”. A Sichuan villager seems like the most villagers said, “Central policies are very good, but they are all distorted when they reach lower levels”. (Li, 2004) Furthermore, the Central’s intention is profitable for villagers but the capacity of basic levels would not faithful to carry out straight away. Chinese villagers prefer to commence popular action by lodging complaints at higher levels, but such efforts are often frustrated from lower
A Critical Review of Political Trust in Rural China
Introduction From the article of Political Trust in Rural China, Lianjiang Li is the author of this article and he is an associate professor in the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has recently paid attention to do research of the impact of village elections and the organized rights struggle in rural China. (Li, 2004) The article shows how some Chinese villagers regard the central and local government as an entirety and more treat separately. This phenomenon reflects three parts of political trust in rural China. The rural people are obviously losing confidence in the local government.
Content The author used plenty of interviews and survey data from 1999 to 2001 to support his view. Firstly, these evidences indicate that some villagers consider that the state government is unified and reliable, while some think it unified and unreliable. Most of villagers deem the state separately and more trust the higher levels than lower levels. Be short of free media in rural China that fortifies the trust of villagers in Beijing. For instance, one 50 years old man from Anhui thought the government was both unified and good said, “My life is much better than that of my grandfather, who was a landlord”. Another example is a farmer of Jiangxi distrust any parts of government said, “ In my opinion, up to the Center, down to the village, officials protect each other”. A Sichuan villager seems like the most villagers said, “Central policies are very good, but they are all distorted when they reach lower levels”. (Li, 2004) Furthermore, the Central’s intention is profitable for villagers but the capacity of basic levels would not faithful to carry out straight away. Chinese villagers prefer to commence popular action by lodging complaints at higher levels, but such efforts are often frustrated from lower
Bibliography: 1. Deyuan Zhang, “Trust Crisis of China- losing people”, at http://club.china.com/data/thread/2614689/2708/98/09/2_1.html (2010), accessed on 25/08/2011 2. Klingemann H, “Mapping political support in the 1990s: A global analysis”, Critical citizens, 1999, pp. 31-56 3. Lianjiang Li, “Political Trust in Rural China”, Modern China, 2004,vol.30, pp.258 4. Rong Hu, “ ZhengZhi ShangFang Yu Zhengzhi Xinren de Liushi”, athttp://www.shwd.net/shownews.asp?newsid=4041(2010), accessed on 25/08/2011 5. Zhengxu Wang, “Before the Emergence of Critical Citizens: Economic Development and Political Trust in China”, International Sociology Review, Jan 2005, vol.22, pp.19