Chronicles of Ash Village (The Game Between Grassroots Democracy and Unwritten Rules)

Author: Zhu Ling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The rise and fall of an old party secretary who ruled for seventeen years, the helplessness of an energetic elected material director; the choices of villagers who fluctuate in their support, the awkwardness of local officials who are sometimes soft and sometimes firm; the confusion of a village that was originally peaceful and composed, a series of events that shocked academia and the higher authorities; a vivid piece of ongoing history, an intriguing phenomenon of grassroots democracy. This is a long-form documentary report that confronts the "itch" of grassroots democracy in China. Authentic, interesting, and powerful. A book that reveals the discomforts faced by emerging grassroots democracy when encountering the millennia-old hidden rules of the officialdom through compelling stories. A book that offers legal advice on grassroots democracy through vivid stories. This is a book on the important topic of contemporary rural grassroots democracy in China—villager self-governance. The book is divided into five chapters: "The Election Show," "Seizing the Seal," "Lawsuits," "Dismissal," and "The Story Continues." The author employs a documentary style, supplemented by broad background materials and relevant academic perspectives. It provides an in-depth insight into the democratization process in rural areas over the past decade and the obstacles and issues encountered, offering both rich social implications and strong readability. The supplementary materials at the end of the book also hold certain reference value.