ABSTRACT

In the village case studies, the form and content of cadre-villager relations was much talked about. In Henan, local cadres said they were looking for new ways of relating to villagers now that they felt they could no longer directly impose authority and had fewer sanctions given that the villagers had more economic autonomy. Recent experience had suggested to them that they would have to negotiate with the villagers rather than issue orders as before. It was no longer sufficient that their authority rested on the support of the state administration. Gone were the days when a personal record of revolutionary activity several decades old was sufficient to ensure co-operation. Before the reforms, I vividly remember the retort of a village cadre in my hearing to a criticism that he might not be doing his job properly: he had nothing to fear, for had he not joined the revolution in 1943? Cadres could not cite such a revolutionary pedigree

today and expect it to have such effect. Since the reforms, cadres in the villages have been well aware that it was their initiative and competence in providing practical services for the villagers that determined their authority rather than their position per se. It is true that such a brokerage position is still frequently dependent on contacts and favours from superiors in the administrative hierarchy, but contacts and favours from others might be as useful. One of the most popular cadres I have ever encountered was an ex-army officer, who had worked in the provincial capital where he had been a basketball player of some note; these were occupations and activities that had allowed him to build up a wide network of useful city contacts which he had subsequently utilised to maximum effect and the lasting gratitude of the villagers. In many villages, local cadres have been praised in my presence for their encouragement, service and solicitude, and their popularity has been evident in our household visits. In other cases, cadres have been criticised in my hearing for not sufficiently facilitating the development of the village or household economy. In one or two villages, cadres have been criticised for ‘living too well ’ and for accepting bribes in their brokerage role. In one or two villages, the cadres have been absent because reputedly they were ‘too busy ’ or because it was soon evident that their inability to look after the villagers ’ interests was such that they dare not set foot in the households!