The Many Roads to Becoming Modern: A History of Collectivism in Rural Jiangsu Province

Description

The Many Roads to Becoming Modern explores collectivism in the context of contemporary rural Chinese history. Following the history of a southern village from 1949 to the present, the author attempts to understand the origin and current state of collectivity in rural China. Along with other unique Chinese institutions, such as the Danwei (work-unit) system, rural collectivism is the basis of New China's economic development. Previous academic research on rural collectivism in general is limited to scattered historical fragments, this book, however, is an empirical study of the actual historical process of rural collectivism. Focusing on presenting a mechanism for universal interpretation, the author illustrates the development of rural collectivism in southern Jiangsu using the historical research method, revealing the characteristics of the Chinese society as it is. Within seven chapters, the author explains in detail the core features and evolution mechanism of the collective model throughout different periods since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. This book will be of interest to all levels of students and scholars who study contemporary China, modern Chinese history and collectivism, especially those who are concerned with rural area development and the land systems. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of tables Foreword Chapter 1: Introduction: Why Study Collectivism? 1.1 What Does Collectivism Mean to Chinese Society? 1.2 What Does Collectivism Mean to Academic Theories? 1.3 How Is Collectivism Understood in This Book? Notes Chapter 2: Rural Collectives in Southern Jiangsu: Practice and Research 2.1 Conceptual Understanding of Rural Collectivism 2.2 Collectivism and Studies of Rural Grassroots Governance 2.3 Rural Collectivism in Property Rights Analysis 2.4 Hecun Village: A Case Study of the Evolution of Collectivism in Southern Jiangsu Notes Chapter 3: The Agricultural Cooperative Movement and the Forming of Rural Collectivism 3.1 From Mutual Aid Groups to Establishing Cooperatives: The Beginning of Village Collectivism 3.1.1 The Land Reform 3.1.2 Mutual Aid Groups 3.1.3 Elementary Cooperatives 3.1.4 Advanced Cooperatives 3.2 The “Great Leap Forward”: A Hasty Large Collective Experiment 3.2.1 Ever-Expanding Scale of the Collective 3.2.2 The Commune as a Grassroots Entity of Government and Production 3.2.3 Commune as an Incorporated Entity of Industry, Agriculture, Business, Education and Military 3.2.4 Collectivized Lifestyle 3.3 Adjustment: Finding an Appropriate Collective Scale 3.3.1 Plights of Big Collectives 3.3.2 Power Decentralization 3.3.3 Clearing Old Accounts 3.3.4 “Three Guarantees and One Reward” 3.3.5 The Establishment of the Rural Collective System Notes Chapter 4: People’s Communes: Collective Governance under the Planned Agricultural Economy 4.1 Collective Operation of Agricultural Production 4.1.1 Crop Varieties 4.1.2 Yield Target 4.1.3 Labor Management 4.2 The Collective Principles of the Distribution System 4.2.1 The Relationship between the Collective and the State 4.2.2 Retention by the Collective 4.2.3 Individual Allocation in the Collective 4.2.4 Game of Allocation Rights between the State and the Collective 4.3 Political Mobilization: An Important Mechanism of Strengthening Collectivism 4.3.1 Evaluation and Education: Regular Collective Management 4.3.2 Cadres’ Conferences: State’s Administrative Control over the Collective 4.3.3 Political Movements: A Major Approach to Transform the Rural Areas Notes Chapter 5: The Development of Rural Industry and the Collective System 5.1 The Wave of Household Contracting and De-collectivization 5.1.1 From Collective Agriculture to Decentralized Farming 5.1.2 Decentralization and Retention of Collective Assets 5.1.3 A New Pattern of Collective Management Power: Prominent Status of the Village Organization 5.2 The Development Course of Rural Industry 5.2.1 Enterprises Run by the Commune and the Brigade Prior to Reform and Opening-Up 5.2.2 The Road to Entrepreneurship after Reform and Opening-Up 5.2.3 The Development of Collective Enterprises 5.2.4 Industrial Enterprise Groups at the Village Level 5.3 The Management Model of Rural Industry 5.3.1 Policy-Oriented Market Situation 5.3.2 Performance Evaluation in Planned Management 5.3.3 Contracting within the Collective Operation 5.4 The Relationship between Collective Enterprises and Rural Communities 5.4.1 The Resource-Sharing Relationship 5.4.2 The Pulling Effect of Industry Supplementing Agriculture 5.4.3 Employment and Welfare: The Main Connections between the Collective Enterprises and the Villagers 5.5 Local Corporatism: The Relationship between the Collective Enterprises and the Local Governments 5.5.1 Shielded Government-Enterprise Relationship 5.5.2 The Differentiated Benefit-Sharing Pattern Notes Chapter 6: Collectivism in the Post-Township and Village Enterprise Era 6.1 The Study Narrative on the Transformation of the Southern Jiangsu Model 6.2 Transformation: Privatization Reform of Collective Enterprises 6.2.1 A Trilogy of Ownership Change: Shareholding, Leasing and Auctioning 6.2.2 From “Fake Conversion” to “True Conversion” 6.3 Capital Management: New Collective Economic Model 6.3.1 From “Managing Factories” to “Managing the Land” 6.3.2 Fumin Company: An Initiative to Involve All Villagers in Capital Operation 6.4 Welfare Governance: Collective Relations with Village Communities 6.5 The New Trend of Administrative Management of the Collective Economy in Southern Jiangsu 6.5.1 The Gaming between Government and the Village Collective in Capital Operation 6.5.2 Top-Down Target Responsibility Management System 6.5.3 Collective Economy and Grassroots Governance Notes Chapter 7: Types and Historical Evolution of Rural Collectivism 7.1 Collectivism Has Not Ended 7.2 The Three Core Elements of Collectivism 7.3 Historical Types of Collectivist Systems 7.3.1 Political Collective Type 7.3.2 The Agricultural Production Type 7.3.3 The Industrial Type of Collective 7.3.4 Capital Operation Type Collective 7.3.5 Administrative Type of Collective System 7.4 The Evolution of Collective Systems 7.5 Collectivism: A Unique Rural Governance System in China 7.6 Impact of Collectivism on Rural China and Its Transformation Notes Chapter 8: Postscript: Exploring the Mystery of Collectivism in Rural China I The Initial Anxiety of the Field Study II Lucky Encounters That Brought Research Opportunities III From Field Research to the Dissertation IV The Mystery of Rural China and Native Academic Research V From the Dissertation to the Book Acknowledgment to My Colleagues Appendix A.1 Statistical Table of Agricultural Cooperatives in Kunshan County, 1954 A.2 Chapter of the Second Red Star Advanced Agricultural Cooperative of Kunshan County (General Provisions) A.3 General Situation of the “Free Expression of Opinions Drive”, Ma’anshan People’s Commune, Kunshan County, 1958 A.4 Statistics of Ma’anshan People’s Commune, 1958 A.5 Report on the Situation of Public Cafeterias in Ma’anshan People’s Commune A.6 Table of Grain Production, Purchase, Sale and Retention of in Ma’anshan Commune, 1968 A.7 Kunshan County Revolutionary Committee’s Response Instruction for Handing over Nangang Handicraft Production Business to the Commune Industry, 1975 A.8 Financial Report of Chengbei Borough, 1985 A.9 Directive on Implementing the Contractual Operation Responsibility System in Chengbei Borough, 1990 A.10 Table of Collective Income and Expenditure of Hecun Village in 2004 (Unit: 10,000 Yuan) A.11 Table of Collective Income and Expenditure of Hecun Village in 2009 (Unit: 10,000 Yuan) A.12 Table of Collective Income and Expenditure of Hecun Village in 2017 (Unit: 10,000 Yuan) Interview Directory Archive Records Archive Records Bibliography Index