ABSTRACT
Rural collectives in contemporary China were formally established during the agricultural cooperative movement. The transformation from mutual aid groups to elementary-type cooperatives was the key to establishing rural collectivism; it was also the beginning of “comprehensive” management of village life by the grassroots governance of state power. The scope of the rural collective grew from small mutual aid groups to village cooperatives and then into the mega collective of the commune. The establishment of advanced cooperatives officially marked the formation of village collectivism. The process of agricultural collectivism in the Hecun Village began in the 1950s with the cooperative movement, which took place after the land reform. A huge transformation happened when, after land reform, privately owned land by individual households became collective land shares of the elementary cooperatives. In essence, both advanced and elementary cooperatives were collectively managed operations, but the advanced cooperatives aimed to institute a higher degree of collectivism.
