Local Elites in Post-Mao China

This book provides fresh insights into the study of Chinese elites at the county level and below. By shifting the analytical focus onto the agency of elites at the local level and away from the institutional structures within which they operate, it fills a number of significant gaps in the field. In particular, this book addresses the lacunae through an empirically rich and diverse set of case studies. It proceeds from the premise that the study of local elites can be most fruitful through examining their relations with each other and with the groups that wield power in the community. Particularly pertinent to the analyses are three major relations, namely the relationship between the elites and their environment, between particular types of elites, and between the locality and the upper and lower scales. Ultimately, it concludes that these relations are not only essential to understanding local elites in post-Mao China but also in accounting for socio-political change and in distinguishing China from other types of societies. As a study of local elites in China, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese politics, political sociology and Chinese Studies in general.

Yingjie Guo is Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia. His recent publications include Unequal China: The Political Economy and Cultural Politics (with Wanning Sun, Routledge 2013) and Handbook of Class and Stratification in the People's Republic of China (2015).

Introduction Local Elites in Post-Mao China, Yingjie Guo 1. Local Cadre Elites and Policy Implementation in Contemporary China, Anna L. Ahlers and Gunter Schubert 2. Inside the Flower Vase: A Report on Private Entrepreneurs' Political Participation in a County-Level People's Political Consultative Conference, Minglu Chen 3. Village Elections and the Rise of a New Elite: A Comparative Study on Two North China Villages, Yao Yusheng 4. Why Did the Party Secretary Resign? A Case Study of Village Elites' Exit from Politics, Feng Junqi 5. Public Goods, Piety and Place: The Legitimation Strategies of Local Business Elites in China, Graeme Smith 6. Urbanizing Collective Land: Localisms, Elites, and the Industrialization of the Pearl River Delta, Luigi Tomba 7. Local Economic Elites and Charitable Giving, Beatriz Carrillo Garcia 8. How a Local Growth Coalition Collapsed: A Case Study of Anti-Confiscation Movement of Private Oil Investors in a Northwestern Chinese County, Peng LU 9. Conclusion China's Local Elites: The Political Economy of Transition, David SG Goodman