ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the lowest formal level of government administration, the townships, which have been both the target and the agent of political recentralisation project. It draws upon the work of three Chinese researchers namely Shukai Zhao, Wenfeng Gu, Yi Wu, who examines the day-to-day workings of township governments. The chapter draws upon fieldwork conducted in 16 townships in a relatively well-off county in Anhui Province, which is referred to as Benghai. In Benghai County, village councils are effectively outposts of township governments, and largely respond to the priorities of their superiors in the township. It also highlights the unintended outcomes of political recentralisation in rural China, and discusses their implications for the livelihoods of rural residents: cadres and farmers. In some parts of China, there have been experiments with amalgamating villager small groups, but township and village cadres in Benghai were united in declaring such an idea as disastrous.
