A century of rural self-governance reforms: reimagining rural Chinese society in the post-taxation era

AbstractIn 2006, the Chinese central government abolished the agricultural tax. This came after several years of intense focus on the growing rural crisis, sparking a new debate on the shape of rural society. Putting these contemporary debates in the context of 100 years of rural governance reforms, this paper argues that contemporary rural advocates find themselves in a situation similar to that of the first half of the twentieth century, and their reimagination of rural governance draws on the ideas of that time as well. It focuses on the contemporary visions for rural reform of Xu Yong, Dang Guoying, Yu Jianrong, Wu Licai, Li Changping, Cao Jinqing and He Xuefeng.Keywords: rural governanceself-governmenttaxationstate involutionpeasant organizationadvocacy politicsXu YongDang GuoyingYu JianrongWu LicaiLi ChangpingCao JinqingHe Xuefeng The author would like to thank Gail Hershatter, the editors of this collection and the anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions on this paper. Guolin Yi was helpful in obtaining sources.Additional informationNotes on contributorsAlexander F. Day is an Assistant Professor of History at Occidental College, with a research focus on modern China. His The peasant in postsocialist China: history, politics, and capitalism was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. The book examines contemporary debates on China's emerging rural crisis and its relationship to intellectual politics in the reform era.