ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing the replacement of village elites in the context of national policies and agendas, political structures in the villages and the individual characteristics of elites. It analyses the most critical factors that affect the dynamics and outcome of elite replacement through a case study of political exit. The chapter focuses on a study of the non-systematic political exit process of the village secretaries of Gaofang Village through the resignation of Yu Guoquan. Yu Guoquan’s case illustrates the disorderliness and complexity of these processes and the extent to which exit from, as well as entry into, the political stage in the village, is tied to the intricate interactions among the local state, political elites in the village, township and county, and villagers. The chapter aims to shed light on the complex web of structural and personal relations in the field of villages within which local elites operate.
