The Modern Village Rules By The Social Governance Of Rural Areas

In the development course of China’s rural society, village regulations and folkconventions have always be an indispensable factor to the building and maintaining of villageorder. Since the reform and opening-up, the rural areas in China have entered into a time ofunprecedented changes. A clear division of interests, differentiated and diversified interestdemands have brought new challenges for the mode and method of social governance in ruralareas. Faced with challenges, rural society should adopt the cooperative governance pattern ofmulti-agents which involving government organizations, rural community organizations andrural residents. In modern times, the forming of village regulations and folk conventions ischaracterized by the duality of state’s administration and internal order in the village. On onehand, multi-agents of rural governance need village regulations and folk conventions to helpthem find support and assistance from private resources in the construction of rural order. Onthe other hand, academic circle mainly focus the study of village regulations and folkconventions on its historic development, text content and its relationship with national laws. Itlacks an understanding about the changes happened in local society and the logic behind theoperation of social organizations at community level. Therefore, it cannot make acomprehensive and in-depth study of the functions and values of village regulations and folkconventions in social governance in rural areas. Taking these two points into consideration,this study focuses on the modern village regulations and folk conventions in socialgovernance in rural areas.Clarifying the concepts and grasping the basic theory are the prerequisite for this studyas well as the foundation for an in-depth study. Enjoying a long history, village regulationsand folk conventions are not only the common texts existing in China’s rural society but alsocodes of conduct that are formed and observed by rural residents. Tracing the roots so as tounderstand the historic reasons for village regulations and folk conventions, this study adoptsthe method of comparative study. It analyzes the meaning of village regulations and folkconventions so as to make a comprehensive analysis on the essence of village rules, villageregulations and folk conventions and local rules as well as an in-depth research of the socialbackgrounds under which village regulations and folk conventions are formed. The study ofmodern village regulations and folk conventions in social governance in rural areas involves extensive academic domains, including the theory on rural governance from the perspective ofmanagement science, the theory on informal institutions from the perspective of constitutionalscience and the theory on folk law from the perspective of legal science. Above-mentionedthree theories lay the theoretical foundation for this study.Social governance in rural areas is a complex and systematic project with its basis restson internal principles. The reason why modern village regulations and folk conventions canshoulder such a big responsibility is that it has its own mechanisms of creating, including thepolitical foundation provided by a pluralistic democratic society, the cultural backgroundsformed in a society developing from traditional etiquette society into a modern legal one, andthe concepts formed among rural residents when they transform from traditional peasants intomodern citizens. At the same time, because the social governance of village regulations andfolk conventions is multidisciplinary, this study breaks the limits of the single subject, fromthe perspectives of economics, legal science, sociology and anthropology, to built amulti-dimensional research pattern which is conducive to understanding the functions andvalues of modern village regulations and folk conventions in social governance in rural areas.In China, most villages have set up certain forms of modern village regulations and folkconventions. However, when it comes to practice, most regulations and conventions didn’treach the expected results. Therefore, faced with diverse social problems happenedeverywhere at anytime in rural areas, only based on a grass-roots level and survey publicopinions of rural residents, can the research find how these regulations and conventions workin practice. This study collects firsthand information by various forms of field research,through data arrangement and case study, to make an empirical analysis on a theoreticalfoundation. According to this study, there are common problems existing in the socialgovernance of village regulations and folk conventions in rural areas, including the excessiveintervention of public authority in its formulating, some regulations and conventions violatethe law and a relatively weak enforcement. Different perspectives should be taken, both fromindividuals and community, to analyze the thinking mode and action logic of rural residentsand tap non-governmental resources and traditional wisdom, so as to find the practical valueof village regulations and folk conventions in maintaining the social order in rural areas.Featuring with traditional Chinese culture, village regulations and folk conventionsshould be innovative along its development across the generations. A harmonious ruralsociety with diverse values and villagers autonomy brings new requirements for theimprovement and innovation of village regulations and folk conventions. Modern villageregulations and folk conventions are supplements to state’s laws. Harmonious concepts are itsvalue orientation in the construction of social order in rural areas. Pluralism is a requirement to balance social interests in rural areas. Self-governance is an important feature of socialgovernance theories in rural areas. Furthermore, from the perspective of informal institutions,integrating and improving rural non-governmental norms including village regulations andfolk conventions, and evaluating the norms when they put into practice, to build a monitoringsystem is the approach to the improvement of modern village regulations and folkconventions.