Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China

Abstract:     
Using interviews with peasants and cadres in North China, compliant villagers (shunmin), recalcitrants (dingzihu), and policy-based resisters (diaomin) are distinguished by reference to their resistance routines (or lack of resistance). Compared to both violent acts and "everyday forms of resistance," policy-based resistance is typically less risky and more effective, because its practitioners employ beneficial central policies to defy local leaders who they believe have ignored or violated these policies. Acting under the sufferance of authorities at higher levels and within the rubric of prevailing political values and norms, policy-based resisters occupy an intermediate position between subjects and citizens. Moreover, their active pursuit of policy-based (sometimes proactive) claims may indicate the growth of rights consciousness in the Chinese countryside.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 34

Keywords: China, protest, rural, contention

JEL Classification: K40, K49, 054, P33

Accepted Paper Series