ABSTRACT
The gentlemen De and Sai, representing Democracy and Science, commenced their frivolous slapstick performance in the Chinese intellectual variety show when the later founder of the Chinese Communist Party Chen Duxiu invoked them in 1918 to exorcise the dark ages of feudalism. Chinese society is socially fragmented rather than socially stratified. The governance of China is not based on representation of political groups, but is centred around formal structures of resource allocation. The urban work units, xitongs, rural China is bound up in formal structures that form societies enminiature. A work unit comprises a multitude of general functions distinct from its main purpose with the aim of catering for the social needs of its employees, including everything from shopping and child care to postal services and publishing. The social and political organization of the country is characterized by the almost total amalgamation at the grass-roots level of work, social life, medical, educational services, and political integration in one organic whole.
