Liangxiang System

China in recent years has been harassed by "San Nong"(farmers, rural and agricultural) issues. It is even more difficult to increase farmers' income in a sustained manner. With the changes and reforms of the economic system of China and the progress of the rural society, the old town governance system has become the main impediment to the economic and social development in rural areas. To materialize a well-off and harmonious society, the old town governance system must be reformed so that the rural economy will be boosted and farmers' income increased. Researches on autonomy and "Hai Xuan" in town have attracted a lot of attention. Many scholars claim that reforming town governance through autonomy and direct election will achieve good governance in rural areas. This idea, however, is too idealistic. In fact, it is not very realistic to practice town autonomy in rural areas of China in a short time. This lies in two main reasons: first, owing to the duality of countryside and city, rural areas have not be brought into the whole market, and second, immature cooperative organization have resulted in a low degree of social organism of rural areas. The structure and situation of the society decide governance model. So there must be a transition period in the process from the present "agent" government model to town autonomy. And how to determine the role and basic frame of town government in the transition period has become the main subject of town governance research. This thesis believes that one must get deep inside the reforms of our local government to understand the trend of town governance reform, design reasonable town political system, and propose viable reform measures. Reforms in Suqian city of Jangsu province, Jiaozuo city of Henan province, Xianan city of Hubei province, Yaan city of Sichuan Province, which are the forth-goers of town political system reform, have provided abundant materials for research. I believe the actual rationality of these reforms should not be easily denied for their conflict with our political-legal system. This thesis, which is an empirical research, finds that it is beneficial to the economic development and social stabilization of rural areas to establish a kind of dual principal-agent relation between the town government, the rural community and the State. We should be practical and realistic and insist on pushing forward the reform by improving this dual principal-agent relation. The town reform of Suqian city is the main research case in this paper. I think the reform measure of electing the Party committee secretary and administrative leader by the way of "Gong Tui Jing Xuan " is advisable. It will benefit the economic development of rural areas and the improvement of relation between the State and towns and villages. However, election reform itself is not enough. We should also carry out reforms of other institutions, such as People's Congress at the township level and democracy in the Party committee of town. This thesis believes that the Party committee should gradually transfer its focus from economic development to legal system building, that the status of People's congress at the township level should be enhanced and it should be given the decision and supervision power on local great affairs, and that the incentive mechanism of officials and financial system of town government should be improved accordantly. All these reforms, of course, should be based on fair, open, and impartial elections in town.