The Chinese government is trying to prove to western scholars that the country is capable of initiating democratic reforms, Yang Zhong, professor of political science and associate head of the department, said in a speech on March16 as part of the Brown Bag Series.

“The Chinese want to say to the world, ‘Look, we have democracy here,’ so they can improve their image in the world,” Zhong said.

The democracy that the Chinese government is promoting exists in the rural areas of its vast country, not on a national scale, Zhong, a native of Beijing who has been researching democracy in the Chinese countryside for several years, said.

Elections are held every three years in villages with no campaigning except for a short speech delivered by candidates on the day of elections. The election results are released immediately after they are counted, Zhong said.

“Vote-buying is strictly forbidden in the rural elections,” he said.

Not only are the ballots secret, but the elected officials have the power to distribute land for agricultural, commercial and housing purposes, each according to what they perceive as being in the village’s best interests, he said.

“Although China has historically resisted Western-style democracy, ironically they’ve encouraged these elections in the countryside,” he said.

The impetus for rural elections in China came as the communist government abolished communal farms in the early 1980s, prompting the creation of the village committee system now in place to tend to the needs of private farmers, Zhong said.

He said that true private farmers do not exist in China, but rather the government leases the land to individuals for 50-year terms.

“It took them a while to get a uniform electoral system, but now they’ve pretty much gotten a universal system,” he said.

However, Zhong said that the elections fall short of being reflective of a functional democracy.

“Even if the elections are perfect elections with sincere candidates, their power is constrained,” Zhong said.

The Communist Party Secretary in each village is the head of the party village committee, which exerts more power than the elected village leader, Zhong said. The party village committee must first approve the candidates who choose to run and then certify the results of the elections, leaving room for abuse, he said.

In fact, the party village committee approves the stipend elected officials receive from the communist government, allowing for yet another form of control the party officials can exert over village officials, Zhong said.

Democratically elected officials are also required to enforce national law, despite the unpopularity of some laws.

“Their arms are being twisted to carry out the policies,” Zhong said.

Zhong said that he was ambivalent to the idea that the elections are a sign of an upsurge of democracy.

“I actually don’t think village elections are a breakthrough” because it won’t lead to an overriding national democratic system and elections, he said. “There is still a lot of institutional and governmental interference in village elections.”

One such interference is the case of party officials requiring candidates to: “Be in good moral standing, not be too old, be knowledgeable of state and local laws,” he said. Party officials can claim a candidate they feel is too liberal or otherwise in poor standing with the party is in violation of the requirements, whether true or not, and disqualify them, Zhong said.

Zhong presented results of surveys taken in villages he has visited, and 60 percent of those surveyed strongly favored the election of all country and township officials. Despite the communist government’s official argument that democracy would lead to chaos, 37 percent of those Zhong surveyed disagreed with the official argument. Asked if the press should be given more freedom of expression, 62.5 percent strongly agreed that they should.

Zhong said he felt restrained optimism about Chinese democracy.

“I think (the peasants) are ready for democracy,” despite the fact that the surveys were conducted in the more affluent and more educated provinces, he said.

Zhong said he didn’t expect significant changes in the results to occur in other, poorer provinces.

“Elections are a training program for peasants for democratic practices and ideas,” he said.

However, of those surveyed, only 51 percent voted, Zhong said.

“Because of the restrictions and limitations, a lot of people are actually losing interest in the elections,” he said.

Moreover, Zhong said that the “Chinese government has no intent or desire to expand this upward [to general elections]. I don’t see any prospect of that.”

Zhong said the elections are important but not the end of communism in the country.

“It is meaningful, I’m not saying it’s not … but it’s not there yet,” he said.

Todd Steed, coordinator for programs abroad, said that China is taking a commanding position in global socioeconomic affairs.

“You cannot underestimate the importance of China on the world stage. The changes China will undergo in the next 20 years will certainly have a profound effect on the world,” he said.