ABSTRACT
In this chapter Wang Fucheng talks about his principles and the methods he used to govern the village when he was in charge. His narrative reveals why he remained Party secretary for thirty years when the average tenure in that position in surrounding villages was only four years. It also reveals, for better or worse, that he was becoming increasingly out of step with the changing times. He sounds a bit curmudgeonly with his complaints of the way young people dress and act, and his intolerance for gambling and drinking. His own wife regularly gambled in the front courtyard of their house with other neighborhood women, though for very small stakes; and his son, the new Party secretary, downed six or seven bottles of beer when I had lunch with him in a small township eatery. His granddaughters wore bright clothing and sometimes cheap jewelry to school. Clearly, his family did not entirely share his concerns, though from his perspective their behavior might have confirmed his misgivings about current trends. His son, Wang Dejun, disagreed with his father’s assertion that fighting had become a serious problem in the village, although he did acknowledge that it had increased in the past several years. Wang Fucheng is undoubtedly right that the increase in the practices he denounces, including some that are clearly illegal—for instance, theft, and the sale of women—is due to the decline of the Communist Party and consequent loosening of social control following the death of Mao, especially after decollectivization. He was more comfortable with greater control, particularly when he exercised it, and is clearly uncomfortable with what he calls “too much freedom.” Again, he reveals himself as a man of his time whose time is rapidly passing.
