This article is taken: “China grassroots: the cornerstone of national governance”, author: Lv Dewen, head Figure from: Vision China
one
In most rural areas, the “three rural” issues as an economic problem have been effectively alleviated, but there is a large gap between farmers’ growing spiritual needs and public cultural supply, which has led to a serious problem of “decay of rural customs”. Elderly suicide, gambling and illegal religious activities are all manifestations.
Under the background of the strategy of rural revitalization, to settle the spiritual life of farmers through the construction of rural customs is the root cause of many problems in rural society, especially the “decline of rural customs”.
Objectively speaking, the “decline of the country style” is not a simple ethical decline problem, but has complex economic and social roots. In summary, it mainly includes the following aspects:
One is the “half work, half farming” livelihood model based on the intergenerational division of labor, which makes it difficult for families to satisfy the spiritual life of left-behind farmers. Take the suicide problem of the elderly in rural areas as an example. Migrating out to work has played a big role in alleviating the “three rural” problems, but it also led to separation of family members. With neither normal family life nor public life, some left-behind elders are pushed into a blank area of social interaction, prone to complain about themselves, and even choose to commit suicide when they cannot bear the loneliness of their hearts.
The second is the decline of traditional rural public spaces. Twenty years ago, the villagers usually had relatively intensive social interactions, and “going to family” chatting was a very important public activity. Public activities such as festivals, weddings and funerals, and even villager group meetings, also help to fill the needs of farmers in public life.
But in recent years, with the improvement of rural living standards, many families have built buildings, and the privacy of individual families has increased, and the number of “traveling families” has become less. In some rural areas, the alienation of human relationships is becoming more and more serious, the exchange of human relationships has become a burden, and the publicity is greatly reduced. It is under this background that the “brand shop” has almost become the only public space in the village.
The third is the misalignment between the existing rural public cultural services and the needs of farmers. Although the country continues to increase cultural and technological efforts to the countryside, rural public cultural services are generally unable to meet the demand. Many “culture to the countryside” projects have one-way problems, such as movies going to the countryside, farmer’s bookstores, etc., which failed to take care of stayingIt is difficult to effectively integrate with farmers’ daily life to protect farmers’ needs. The construction of rural civilization is a soft indicator, and it is not easy to be included in the daily work of the grassroots government, so the logic of “no trouble” prevails.
Because of this, there has been a certain degree of “decay of the rural style”, and in response to farmers’ spiritual life needs, targeted construction of rural style civilization has been carried out, especially for the leisure resettlement of left-behind farmers The problem is urgent. The author believes that perhaps the following aspects can be started.
The first is to promote the development of farmers’ self-organization and improve their ability to settle their leisure life by themselves. The construction of rural style civilization is closely related to farmers’ daily production and life, especially leisure life, and it can only be effective if it goes deep into the logic of farmers’ lives. For example, the elderly are currently the largest left-behind group in the rural areas, and they are also the group with the most lack of spiritual life. According to the author’s research, many places across the country have established red and white councils with the elderly as the main body, and the elderly associations have been established in Honghu, Shayang, Hubei and other places. These attempts have achieved good results.
The second is to fully rely on the strength of the grassroots party organizations to improve the implementation of the construction of rural customs and civilization. Because the construction of rural customs and civilization is a “soft job”, it is difficult to rely on indicators and assessments to be effective. As far as the current rural work is concerned, combining the work of changing customs and party building is an effective way to firmly grasp the construction of rural customs and civilization. Generally speaking, rural party members and cadres are the backbone farmers in the local community, with strong social interaction skills and a wide social network. They can play an exemplary role through party building, which may be twice the result with half the effort.
The third is to explore a new type of “culture to the countryside.” “Culture to the countryside” should be closely integrated with the lifestyle, cultural habits and practical needs of farmers, which can really help promote the rural customs and civilization.
The author discovered during a survey in the rural areas of Chengdu that the local government implemented a village public service list system, and each village could select from the list based on its actual situation, which greatly improved the fit between the supply of public goods and the needs of farmers. Similarly, relevant departments may also consider establishing a “Culture to the Countryside List” system. In addition, there are still many articles to do on how to better integrate local culture with “Culture to the Countryside”.
Fourth is to explore new agricultural development models. The current agricultural modernization system in my country has improved production efficiency, but it is difficult to take into account the impact on the village farming groups, especially the elderly. Farming for the elderly in the village is not only to obtain material resources, but also an important way to spend their leisure time and fill their spiritual life. Therefore, while continuing to develop modern agricultural industries, it should also be based on the characteristics of each region.Adjust measures to local conditions and leave space for farmers who need to farm, especially the elderly, so that they can continue to fill their material and spiritual lives by farming.
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During the period of the collection of agricultural taxes and fees, there was a saying called “pay enough for the country, leave enough for the collective, and the rest is your own”. This very vividly summarizes the relationship between the state, the collective and the individual. What is valuable is that this healthy public spirit is not only a slogan, but also integrated with the practice of rural governance, and has institutional guarantees.
After the rural tax and fee reform and tax exemption, the burden on farmers has been reduced. But on the other hand, as the state assumes more and more public service functions, the phenomenon of “virtualization” of rural collectives becomes more and more obvious. The vast majority of rural collectives no longer undertake functions such as land adjustment and joint production, and farmers’ cooperation is also due to The powerlessness. Over time, many farmers have the illusion that all rural public utilities are “national affairs.”
In recent years, the party and the government have re-emphasized the central role of the mass line in national governance, which has strengthened the relationship between cadres and the masses. However, mass work is a combination of contradictions. We must emphasize approaching and caring for the masses, organizing the masses, propagating the masses, and educating the masses. In grassroots work, the efforts of grassroots cadres in caring for the masses should be affirmed, but objectively speaking, the work of organization, propaganda, and especially the education of the masses is not enough.
It is not impossible to cultivate the public spirit of farmers.
First, we must pay full attention to the fundamental role of collectives in straightening out the relationship between the state and farmers. In rural areas, collectivism and collectivism are important carriers for cultivating public spirit. The collective is not an abstract existence, but is closely related to the daily production and life of farmers. According to the author’s research experience, in villages where the collective economy is well preserved and land adjustments are still being implemented, the peasants’ public spirit is well preserved. The reason is that collective members can calculate “balanced accounts” within the collective, and people’s relative balance of rights and obligations is feasible because it is visible, predictable, and constrained.
The second is to activate the method of mass work. Objectively speaking, the traditional village community in rural areas is disintegrating, and it is difficult for local norms to restrain deviants. Relying on administrative and legal “compression” is not only costly, but also difficult to sustain. Only through the method of “persuasion” in mass work can the peasants’ ideological work be carried out so that they can truly become a political subject that understands the spirit of the country and collectivism.
The third is to correctly promote the legalization of grassroots governance. In a sense, in rural work, the rule of law in rural society is more fundamental than the rule of law in government governance, and it has a long way to go. In a society under the rule of law, the legitimate rights and interests of farmers should be protected, but the phenomenon of “unethical individuals” also needs to be effectively regulated.
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Through research in rural areas in recent years, the author found that gambling has dominated the lives of many farmers. In addition to agricultural production, it has become a living habit for farmers to enter the “tea house” to play cards with “colors”. Whenever it is time for the underground lottery to open the lottery, gathering in small village shops to buy yards has become a daily “homework” for many farmers. In the upcoming festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival, gambling and carnival are also a normal phenomenon.
It goes without saying that gambling has become an important factor affecting farmers’ happy lives and rural social stability. It is not uncommon for families to break up due to gambling. In an ordinary town in the central part of the investigation, there have been 4 cases of forced suicide due to huge gambling debts in the past 3 years. There have been more cases of couples divorced and fathers and sons rebellious due to gambling. However, people seem to be used to it. The reason is that gambling has a deep soil for survival, and the government also has a lot of difficulty in managing gambling in rural areas.
In most pure agricultural areas, with the improvement of the agricultural service system and the improvement of agricultural technology, the labor intensity of agricultural production has been greatly reduced. The actual farming time generally does not exceed 3 months. Some rice planting areas even In less than 2 months, farmers already have a lot of leisure time.
At the same time, in the tide of market economy, rural traditional cultural life is gradually weakening, and rural cultural construction has not been paid attention to for a long time, making gambling and other bad habits blow into all corners of the countryside. The prevalence of gambling in rural areas is also closely related to the intervention of gray and black forces. Under normal circumstances, “colorful” leisure in the society of acquaintances will not have serious consequences. People understand each other’s family status, and because of affection, they will not ruin the other party’s family. However, by setting up special casinos and lending usury, the gray and black forces raised the stakes, causing some farmers with low vigilance and self-control to be deceived and unable to extricate themselves.
The way the gray and black forces intervene in the rural gambling market is often more covert, making it difficult for the public security organs to crack down on it. And the casino has a strict division of labor management, and the use of modern communication technology “remote control”. Some use local “teahouses” to lend usury on the spot, and it is difficult for the grassroots public security organs to investigate and collect evidence. The underground lottery makes full use of the social network of acquaintances, through the layered “pumping” modeTo make a profit, it is difficult for public security agencies to catch the boss behind the scenes.
Gambling in rural areas is difficult to manage, and the public security organs are also unspeakable. First, the serious shortage of police force at the grassroots level makes it difficult for grassroots police stations to have the energy to combat gambling; Second, the funding protection of public security organs in some poverty-stricken areas is still a big problem. It is the only “income-generating” channel for the grassroots police station, so it is difficult to have the motivation to completely control the phenomenon of rural gambling; The third is that the public security organs are easily afraid to enforce the law, especially during the Chinese New Year, otherwise it is easy to cause mass incidents.
Solving the problem of the proliferation of gambling in rural areas requires treatment of both symptoms and root causes. The government needs to guide the standardized operation of rural entertainment and leisure venues and severely crack down on the gray and black forces in the countryside. This is a temporary solution; strengthening the foundation of grassroots political power, reversing the weakening of grassroots governance in recent years, and rationally arranging the industrial structure is a permanent cure.
Introduction: This book comprehensively presents the social changes at the grassroots level in China, and deeply analyzes the complexity of grassroots governance. The content covers the observation and explanation of hot and difficult issues such as the “three rural” issues, a better life, poverty alleviation, grassroots order, grassroots burden reduction, cadre responsibility, and governance modernization. This book provides a unique perspective for readers who are concerned about the big changes at the grassroots level and want to have a deep understanding of China.
About the author: Lu Dewen, Distinguished Researcher and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Social Sciences, Wuhan University, concurrently a researcher at the China Rural Governance Research Center of Wuhan University, CITIC Reform and Development Research Foundation researcher. Mainly engaged in grassroots governance research. In recent years, he has paid particular attention to related issues such as the informal economy, marginalized people, and gray order. He is the author of “Governance in the Peripheral Zone”, “Recovering the Masses: Reshaping Grassroots Governance” and so on.