ABSTRACT
The previous chapter sketched the complex institutional framework of intergovernmental relations in China, and showed that these structures both incited and enabled local cadres to extract funds from the peasants. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines how far the public discourse and official interpretations of the peasant burden problem acknowledged these deficiencies. This is important because a policy can only work if it is based on realistic assumptions. The following sections examine when the peasant burden entered the political and public discourse, how intensely it was discussed, how the issue developed over time, and which policies resulted. The peasant burden discourse is contrasted with the fiscal reform discourse to find out how the former influenced the latter and when they began to overlap. Of course, agendas do not develop of their own volition, but are the result of argumentative and power struggles waged by various groups of actors. This chapter examines the roles of central and local politicians and bureaucrats as well as peasants, scholars and journalists in the agendasetting process. As will be seen, the RTFR commenced in a bottom-up manner, which was characterized by decentralized innovations conducted in innovation networks spanning several administrative levels. Although the pioneers of rural reforms certainly hoped that their actions would reap political rewards, the framework within which they cooperated was rather one of co-operation than of competition under hierarchy.
