Abstract
The aim of this paper is to clarify what condition is needed in order to make a dialogue between farmers and the state in China today. Because of the household contract system for collective farmland, individuals are acknowledged to pursue their own profit by the government. This strengthened the importance of the “private” in China.
However, people of the farming villages received less benefit from the land reform and following economic development than the city. The relative poverty became so serious that the government had to proclaim new policy for the farming village.Although the State was able to grasp people’s life through the People’s Commune until the end of late 1970’s, now there is no way but having dialogue between farmers and the State in order to understand the people’s life and to make policy worthy.
This paper focused on a practice of dialogue between farmers and the administration in X village, Tianjin-City. The practice actually fell down because of the loss of the People’s Commune. As a result of the respect of “private”, the presence of “public” disappeared. People in X village realized that it is important to restore the role of “public” such as integrating people’s opinion on coordinating people’s life.
