A Study On The Functions Of Township Government In The Construction Of New Socialist Countryside

The rural issue, agriculture issue and farmer issue have posed a great challenge to China's modernization drive. It has been a top problem requiring an urgent solution for the CPC in the new century to solve the rural issue, agriculture issue and farmer issue so as to eliminate the unharmonious factors occurred in the process of China's modernization drive. Against the backdrop, based on the profound analysis of the current international and domestic situation and the characteristics of China's economic and social development of this phase, CPC advanced a great strategy in the fifth cession of 16th National People's Congress, that is, build up new socialist countryside. In accordance with the strategic objective and requirement of"creating developed production, affluent living, cultivated village manner, orderly village and democratic administration", work hard to push forward the construction of new socialist countryside with respect for the farmers'will"; meanwhile,"balance the economic and social development of rural and urban areas so as to promote the modern agriculture".The strategy of building up new countryside is a great strategy put forward by the central government to balance the industrial and agricultural development and rural and urban development. The township government is the organ of political power at the lowest level of Chinese regime; therefore it is significant for the township government to make a full play in the construction of new socialist countryside so as to fulfill the modernization of agriculture. Based upon the above argumentation, this paper will focus on how township government will play an important role in the construction of new socialist countryside.This paper combines the theoretical research and a case study and takes Y town's township government of T city of Jilin province as an example. This paper presents the theory of new socialist countryside and the practical functions of township government with a case study to display the functions other township governments of the same type can play in the construction of new socialist countryside. Eventually this paper puts forward the effective methods of reform of the township government's functions.This paper comprises five parts.Part one is an introduction to the paper, which briefly introduces the issue under research, the significance of the research and the research methods. The significance of the theoretical research lies in that the township government's functions against the backdrop of building up new socialist countryside are researched systematically so that the theory of township government is expanded. In addition, the emphasis on the leading role of township government in the construction of new socialist countryside is complementary to the current theory of Chinese countryside construction. The systematic analysis of the functions of the township government of Y town of T city of Jilin province played in the past one year in the construction of new socialist countryside is helpful to rid the misunderstandings of township government's functions in the construction of new socialist countryside. Particularly, it is valuable to solve the problems resulting from the ambiguous functions the township government played in the construction of new socialist countryside. Based on the theoretical analysis and case study, this paper proposes several feasible policy suggestions.Part two presents the relevant theories of the construction of new countryside and township government, mainly introducing the connotation of new countryside and the necessity of building up new socialist countryside and the township government and its basic functions with the purpose of providing theoretical support for the research of this paper. The new countryside is defined as the countryside featured with new visage of the new times. The basic features of new countryside include the following six"new factors": the new living environment with orderly and clean houses and good ecological system; the new technology and service system with high technology network, advanced agriculture technology and comprehensive service; the new policy in which the people of the countryside enjoy the same education, health care, welfare and social security with the people of the cities; the new customs in which people of the countryside transform the bad social traditions and embrace scientific, civilized and lawful behaviors; the new concept of division of labors in which the people of the countryside participate in the global competition of modern agricultural market; the new habitants that every people of the countryside is endowed with high quality, lofty ideal, creativity, good discipline and is well educated. The countryside which obtains the above six new factors can be regarded as a new countryside which is of developed production, affluent living, cultivated village manner, orderly village and democratic administration. The following reasons account for why it is necessary to build up new socialist countryside: first, the bid gap between the rural and urban area has become an unharmonious factor of China. Second, China has accumulated enough wealth which can provide a strong financial support for the construction of new socialist countryside. Third, the successful experience and lessons learned from failure of construction of new countryside of China and foreign countries can offer valuable suggestion to China's building up new countryside. Finally, the construction of new socialist countryside can enlarge China's domestic demand. Under this circumstance, the main functions of the township government are as follows: organize and lead the countryside to develop socialist market economy and democratic political construction, offer public products and service, and undertake social administration.Part three explores the crucial role the township government should play in the construction of new socialist countryside. In this part, the specific requirements of construction of new socialist countryside, the requirement of position of township government and the requirement of establishing public service township government are mainly considered.Part four takes the township government of Y town as an example to study in detail what role the township government has played in the construction of new socialist countryside. The study mainly covers the data collection and analysis of the basic situation of Y town and the township government's functions in the construction of new socialist countryside. With a case study, the functions, performance and existing problems of the township government are analyzed, which will serve as a foundation to perfect the specific functions of the township government. The following are the main problems of the township government of Y town: the township government tries to administrate everything; the township government overrides its due functions to interfere in the village committee's work; the township government shows prejudice to some villages; the public servants of the township government don't have a broad view in the construction of new socialist countryside; the township government fails to activate the farmers to build up new socialist countryside. The reasons leading to the above problems are as follows: the township government does not position itself properly; the relationship between the township government and the village committee is misplaced; the township government does not have a correct understanding of new socialist countryside; the public servants of township government do not have a correct understanding of the objective of new socialist countryside.Part five discusses the role the township government should play in the construction of socialist countryside based upon the above study. This part draws a conclusion that the township government should be a limited government, responsible government, cheap government and law-based government. In the future, the township government should play a leading role and the farmers the main driving force in the construction of new socialist countryside. The township government should function in the following aspects to promote the construction of new socialist countryside: work out a scientific plan for the construction of towns and villages; serve guidance and lead the villagers to self rule themselves; regulate and control the agricultural production; serve as the bridge between the central government and the common farmers and try to propagate the national polices and regulations of the central government among the farmers; activate the farmers'initiativeness to building up new socialist countryside; effectively provide public products to serve the farmers; help to solve the practical difficulties the villages and farmers face; assist the villages to raise their human resource; coordinate and organize all social organizations to participate in the construction of new countryside; lead the farmers to develop countryside culture and advocate healthy and civilized customs.