ABSTRACT

The three sections of this chapter are arranged as follows. The first section discusses the change of government behavior after 1992. The general trend was that government became more active in economic development, with an unintended consequence of deteriorating rent-seeking under the current political system. But the strengthening of government power also avoided the possibility of the government being captured by interest groups or powerful individuals. The second section discusses the growing influence of entrepreneurs and their responses to unsatisfactory government service. Entrepreneurs and the people voiced their complaints loudly, and were not reluctant to file administrative lawsuits against the government when disputes occurred. Such initiatives became an important driving force for progress. At the same time, the political participation of entrepreneurs became more competitive in recent years. Voicing complaints and competitive political participation suggested a rise in the political status of this new class, its growing need for better government service (and thus for a need to rationalize bureaucracy), and the coexistence of clientelist practices under the current political system. As the third section shows, compared with Sunan, elite competition was rather remarkable in Wenzhou, which was seen through both competition between the economic elite and political elite (for a better government), and competition among entrepreneurs. Consequently, a balance of power started to emerge, which is beneficial to democracy.