Rural Roots of Reform Before China's Conservative Change

China?s economic and military rise dominates discussions of the world?s most populous country. Resilient authoritarian government is credited with great successes, but this book expands the discourse to include governance by village heads - who often ignored central politicians. Chinese reforms for prosperity started circa 1970 under rural and suburban leaders. They could act autonomously then because of unexpected political and technological opportunities. Their localization of power eroded socialist controls. Since 1990, central leaders have tried to reverse reforms made by resilient local bosses.

New findings, especially from the Yangzi delta around Shanghai, challenge the top-down approach to thinking about governance. As Deng Xiaoping admitted, the nation?s spurt of prosperity began in local communities rather than Beijing. Reforms for triple-cropping and rural industrialization started long before Mao?s death (not in 1978, the date most writers cite). Country factories competed with state industries for materials and markets. Shortages by the 1980s led to inflation, government deficits, unofficial credit, unenforceable planning, illegal migrations, then international exports - and severe political tensions. After 1990, Party leaders sought policies to build a Leninist regime that is mostly post-socialist. These reactionary changes have lasted into the era of Xi Jinping. China?s reforms and subsequent changes can be understood as results of unintended situations not just ideas, and local not just central politics.

This book will interest students and scholars of Chinese, as well as any readers who wonder about comparative development.

Prologue: Local-Political Growth, Behavioral Periodization, Policy Reactions 1. Farmers Start the End of the Centralist Revolution 2. Ex-Peasant Industrialists End Most Socialist Planning 3. Varied Managers Reform China’s Power Structure 4. Countryside Businesspeople Modernize China’s Markets 5. Rural Leaders Beat Urban Planners 6. Tax Collectors and Subsidizers Shape Central-Local Relations 7. Budgeteers Face the 1980s Crisis 8. Owners Manage Urban Corruptions and Companies 9. Bankers Arrange Credit, Savings, and Depreciation 10. Technicians Innovate to Sell Quality Products 11. Long-Distance Traders and Jiangnan Regionalists Create New Markets 12. Service Providers Rule Collective and Private Enterprises 13. Migrants Staff China’s Reform Economy Epilogue: Local and Medial Powers, not just Central Powers; Situations, not just Ideas

Lynn T. White III is an emeritus professor and senior research scholar in the Woodrow Wilson School, Politics Department, and East Asian Studies Program of Princeton University.