Village Power Structure Of The Transition Period - In Northern Shaanxi G Village Case Study

At present, there is an obvious regional diversity in China's social development. In order to achieve four modernizations in a comprehensive way in which the development of western backward areas is a key step, the government introduced the western development strategy. Under the strategy's guidance, academic circles have undergone deep researches on western rural areas and the achievements from these researches not only would help people to understand western rural society, but also are for reference.Recently, Chinese scholars showed a unique solicitude for the facts of restoring traditional things and related issues such as the significance, effect and influence of the existence of nongovernmental organizations and activities, like tribes and temple fairs, which occurred widespreadly in rural areas since the reform and opening-up. Owing to the existence of regional diversity, most of these studies which are on southern areas with a deep-rooted tradition in lineage or northern developed areas couldn't explain the real features of other areas.Based on the survey data of fieldwork, this paper takes G Village in northwestern Shann'xi province as its object of study and analyzes the configuration of its power in the transformation era. G Village, a transportation-convenient village, has a deep-rooted tradition in lineage and is susceptible to the outside world, and its peasants share the same surname. Using the related study achievements for reference, the author adopts the sociological and anthropological method of analyzing daily life activities and the political method of analyzing major events. Then, the author analyzes the changes in the configuration of power of G Village and puts forward that playing different roles in rural daily life, formal power organizations (FPOs) and informal power groups (IPGs) correlatively constitute the present multi-stratified configuration of power in rural areas.This paper consists of four parts. Being the first part, Chapter One, a chapter of introduction, summarizes theories and introduces the object and methods of study. Constituting Part Two, Chapter Two and Three state the course of the development of FPOs and IPGs respectively. Being Part Three, Chapter Four explains the connections between FPOs and IPGs. Being the last part, Chapter Five is a chapter of conclusion.Chapter Two briefly states the changes occurred to the village regime after the founding of the PRC and its present features. Then, the author points out that althoughthe scope of power of the village regime in a degree shrinks, the regime at the grass-roots level still maintains its traditional political power and its authority and influence embody in all rural affairs, especially in the decision-making in every major policy issue. FPOs, e.g. grassroots party cells and village committees, play a leading role in the configuration of rural power.Chapter Three describes the course of the development of lineage and temple affairs of G Village in recent years. The fact is, since the reform and opening-up, there are frequent activities about lineage and of temple fairs in G Village. IPGs, e.g. tribes and temple affairs play an important role in villagers' daily life. Meanwhile, owing to the existence of framework of differentiation and order and taking advantage of the traditional personal relationship and the impact of religion on cadres in rural China, IPGs to a great extent influence the village regime.Chapter Four explores in detail the connections among components of the configuration of power and after commenting exclusively on several cases, the author argues that unpredictable events happened in villages not only highlight the significant role of IPGs and reflect the relation between the government and rural areas, but also make FPOs and IPGs work together.The village regime, lineage and temple affairs co-exist in the configuration of power in rural China and the interacting relations between them are the pedestal of the rural configuration of power. The multi-polarized configurati...