CHANGING POLICIES OF RURAL COMMUNE MANAGEMENT IN CHINA: 1975, 1977, AND 1979

The purposes of the study are twofold. First, the study describes and analyzes the existence of alternative policy approaches to Chinese commune management by comparing the statements on commune management policies in three different years, that is, 1975, 1977, and 1979. The second purpose of the study is to examine the central-provincial relationship in terms of policy conflict and consensus during the same period. Specifically, it investigates how two provinces, that is, Hunan and Szechwan, each of which has been under much influence of different national leaders, responded to rural policy changes initiated at the center.; Content analysis served as the primary research tool in the study. The main source of data was articles in the Daily Report: PRC of the U. S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. The selected articles from the Daily Report were analyzed on the basis of a number of controversial issues on commune management between radicals and moderates in Chinese politics.; The findings of the study suggest that the change of the central leadership groups affected the selection of policy approaches to commune management. Therefore, at the central level, commune management policies in 1975 contained many radical elements, whereas those in 1979 contained many moderate elements. And the policies of commune administration in 1977 were less radical than those in 1975 and less moderate than those in 1979. In terms of consensus and conflict between the center and the provinces, commune management policies in Hunan in 1975 were more radical than those in Szechwan, and thus Hunan showed more compliance with the dominant faction at the center than Szechwan did. Finally, the policies of commune management in Szechwan were more moderate than those in Hunan in 1979, and so Szechwan expressed more consensus with those who were dominant at the center than Hunan did at that time.