On Community And The Development Of Chinese Rural Society

With the reform and opening up of China society, the rural area has undergoing comprehensive change. Drived by socialist market economy, rural productivity has developed quickly and the living standard of farmers has improved greatly. However, there are many unharmonious and absonant phenomena in the rural society. In the face of the rise of building a new socialist countryside, the problem, what is the character of Chinese rural society, is put forward definitely. In order to understand the problem clearly, the article exercises the concept of community to analyze the evolvement and the future development of Chinese rural society.Firstly, the article explores the origin of the concept of community. There are two points of view about what is community. Some scholars think there are two ideal types of social bonds-community and "society". Some scholars think community as a type of group. The article exercises the concept of community on the basis of the first viewpoint. It is a methodology tool used to analyze the social transition. Many scholars analyzed Chinese rural society on the basis of community, but they ignored its meaning of social structure and obliterated the core of the concept-social relation. Therefore, the article judges the community property of rural society according to analyzing the social relation and explores the property of community in the context of social transformation.Secondly, the author outlines the development path of rural social property in China. In the traditional rural society, farmers maintained mutual connection on the basis of ascribed kin. Familial interests held a dominant position. Traditional ethics which centered on familial ethics became powerful collective consciousness, which strengthened farmers' identification with family. So the traditional rural society presented the shape of familial community. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, state power intervened in rural society, which played a critical part in social integration instead of family. Farmers maintained mutual solidarity on the basis of administrative bonds. They attached importance to collective interests, especially national interests. Collectivistic morals took the place of traditional ethics. Traditional familial community was replaced by administrative community. Since the reform and opening up, secular rural community has been destroyed greatly. The contraction of state power brings on the collapse of administrative community. Market economy and the household contract responsibility system make a strong impact on rural society. Interest principle and individualism filter into rural society quickly. Farmers indulge themselves in the chase for individual interests. They acquire the right to migrate. Rural society become an exoteric area. The living anticipation of farmers turns to the outside world. The symbiosis based on traditional social relation is broken.Finally, the author tries to explore the future development path of rural society. The author thinks it is necessary to reconstruct rural community. However, the reconstruction isn't the copy of traditional communities. It will not only supply fanners with certainty, dependability and safety, but also maintain their freedom and individual rights. The reconstruction of rural community means the harmony between community and "society", that is the construction of civil community.