The Relationship Between Villages’ Economic Development Molds And Rural Elites

Academia’s researches toward rural administrator elites mainly focus on rural elite classification and functional role conversion among various kinds of elites. However, papers about association between rural administrator elites and village development modes from a microscopic view are rare, which should be improved.This paper, taking a method of on-site inspections to three villages and interviews with certain rural administrator elites, emphatically investigates the effectiveness of the development situation and practice in three villages, and analyzes the composition and the main characteristics of rural administrator elites, so as to draw a conclusion of association between different village development modes and rural administrator elites. Generally speaking, differences of rural elites and natural resources, often lead to different association between rural administrator elites and village development modes. This paper, on the ground of whether rural elites have played an active role in the village development, divides village development modes into three types:actively-planned development, passively-input development, and resource-oriented development.Researches indicate that:Firstly, rural elites in actively-planned developmental villages appear as economic hotshots and have a strong sense of service; rural elites in passively-input developmental villages appear as family-led authorities but have a weak sense of service; rural elites in resource-oriented developmental villages appear as family-led authorities and have a strong sense of service.Secondly, rural elites’ influence on village development modes is based on the relatively abundant or deficient resources that are available in the village. The same elites, if there exists resource differences, tend to contribute to different village development modes. Even the resources are the same, different qualities of rural elites also contribute to differences. Thirdly, family forces, external opportunities and challenges also do a great deal to village developments. If the external force is insufficient, village governance and development would be sustained within the limits of family influences. If the external force is so ample as to affect a village’s existence, village governance and development, especially the village’s elite committee structure would change significantly.Rural elites could break away from family influences, and therefor lead village’s development to a new path.