ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines local scales of activity without losing sight of the broader scales of interaction that link the local to the regional and national scales. It looks at political elites at county and sub-county levels and turns to economic elites. The book focuses on governance at the county level, although it directs attention to a group of economic elites and examines their participation in a county-level People’s political consultative conference. It also examines elites’ political competition and its effects on governance in two north China villages since direct elections were introduced at the beginning of the twentieth-first century. The book outlines the politics and pathways of promotion among government officials working in the counties and delineates two common strategies adopted by local business elites for career advancement and personal enrichment.
