Influence of Civil Authority on Rural Grass-roots Democracy and Social Autonom y in Northwest Minority Regions

Junlin DU

School of Political Science and Law，Hexi University，Zhangye 734000，China

The central party committee has proposed the＂twenty－word policy＂about the construction of new countryside since the 16th Congress．The new countryside construction has been fully launched throughout China．Developing socialist democratic politics and establishing socialist political civilization are the key points in achieving the construction of socialist new countryside．However，construction of grass-roots democracy in minority regions are confronted with many problems．Members of each minority have weak awareness of democracy，emphasize religious beliefs and lack law consciousness and there is no proper guidance for the development of civil authority．Therefore，in order to construct socialist new countryside better and faster，the influence of civil authority on the construction of rural grass-roots democracy in northwest minority regions should be comprehensively analyzed and considered．Effective measures should be taken to properly guide the development and influence of civil authority to finally achieve the construction of new socialist countryside．

The report of the 16th Congress highlighted the development of grass-roots democracy unprecedentedly and pointed out that enlarging grass-roots democracy is fundamental to socialist democracy．In 2006，the political bureau of the central committee specially arranged the collective learning for constructing the socialist grass-roots democratic politics in China．In 2007，report of the 17th Congress raised the grass-roots mass autonomy to be one of the four socialist political systems with Chinese characteristics and also pointed out that grass-roots democracy should be promoted as the fundamental project in developing socialist democratic politics．Over the past decade，grass-roots democracy in China has achieved impressive progress and been further developed．The report of the 18th Congress in 2012 highlighted the perfection of grass-roots democracy system．The implementation of self－management，self-service，self-education and self-supervision by the people in community governance in urban and rural areas，grassroots public affairs and public welfare is the essential means of people exercising democratic rights by law．Vigorous grass-roots mass autonomy system led by grass-roots party organizations should be perfected．Enlarging orderly participation，promoting information publicity and strengthening negotiation aswellas power supervision should be the priority along with widening range and methods as well as enriching content and forms in order to guarantee more practical democratic rights of people．Employees' democratic rights of participating in management and supervision should be ensured through relying on the working class whole-heartly and perfecting the democratic management system in enterprises and institutions with the workers congress as the basic form．The coordination among various kinds of grass-roots organizations should be fully played to achieve the organic combination of governmental management and grass-roots democracy．

1 Characteristics of civil authority

Civil authority refers to a kind of civil spontaneous behavior which is gradually admitted by the majority，being symbolic and can restrict the behavior ormoral of the members during the long existence of a certain system．The generation of civil authority is related to the population composition and its stability in the region and civil authority stands for those persons who have strong influence within a certain area，which is different from grass-roots cadres in rural area．Both Henry Fayol and MaxWeber divided and defined power．1They believed that there are two kinds of power，namely authority（reasonable legal power）and individual power（traditional power），besides theocracy in the real life．Individual power consists of experience，moral quality，intelligence，leadership，seniority，economic position and some others．Leaders in the community are mostly defined by individual power，which is a kind of soft power and influence．The influence is reflected on persuasion，following，warning and imitation．Therefore，leaders in the community are excellent and dominant in the certain population group and they are moral or economic elites，hence civil authority．At least three conditions are required for a person to be leader in the rural community．Firstly，leaders should possess certain kind of organizational capability and relatively high reputation．Besides，leaders should have been appointed important positions in township organizations．Moreover，they can lead the public in economic construction and achieve impressive progress．1 Some scholars classify the authority into traditional authority with families or clans as the representatives，new authority with excellent villagers as the representatives and conventional authority with rural cadres as the representatives［1］．Weber classified authority into charisma，tradition and bureaucracy．＂Charisma＂means individuals' reputation，domination and dignity gained through creating welfare for the general population．Due to this kind of authority definition and intervention of the government，Max Weber called it a＂natural authority＂．＂Tradition＂means that a certain kind of system isgradually admitted by the public，becoming symbolic and restricting moral and behavior during its long existence．The power of＂bureaucracy＂stems from formal government and appointment in working units．Based on administrative hierarchy and involving system construction，it is bureaucratic．However，civil authority mentioned here belongs to traditional authority and is informal，whose power lies in the symbolic force gradually admitted by the general public，not the administrative appointment．

Traditional civil power in western minority regions in China involves leading clans，moral elites and religious leaders．However，with the development of economy and improvement of people's living standards in China，traditional civil authority in western minority regions has begun to decline and the newly emerging civil authority involves leaders for becoming rich and leaders in science and technology promoting agriculture as well as animal husbandry．Both traditional and new civil authority generally possess the following features．Firstly，they have displayed outstanding ability or made great contribution in certain field．Secondly，they are the representatives of the interest of local people，sharing the same benefits and goals．Thirdly，they have excellent organizational capability．Lastly，they have relatively abundant life experience and excellent thinking ability．This population group is powerful in local places and they can organize the originally loose farmers to decrease and curb extreme behaviors in ethnic regions with proper governmental guidance，which can effectively reduces the cost of governmental management in these areas．Due to the special history and culture，minority regions in China also have their particular religious beliefs，languages and living habits，which form the distinctive sub－political culture．Therefore，civilauthority inminority regions generally exert more profound impact than that in Han area，which deserves more attention in establishing socialistpolitical civilization and achieving the construction of new socialist countryside．

2 Civil authority in northwestern minority regions in history

2．1 Traditional civil authority in northwestern minority regions in historyPolitical culture in northwestern minority regions is the subculture of the combined political culture in China．It forms the distinctive political subculture system of the minorities，which is independent of the Han culture．Although these relatively independent political subcultures have been greatly affected by the leading political culture，they have not disappeared，but existed with practical meanings and also played an important role in the actual political life．In history，the development of northwestern minorities was quite complicated．Some ethnics disappeared while others emerged，therefore the political culture there was naturally diverse and complex．

In the history of Chinese northwestern minorities，there were many kinds of civil authorities including household authority，moral authority and religious authority，such as Akhund in northwestern Hui autonomous region and the living Buddha in the Tibetan area，both of which are the representatives of religious civil authority．In minority regions，there is no tradition for the grassroots democratic politics with contemporary meanings．There were some kinds of primitive democracy in the history of some minorities，but they gradually disappeared with the development of modern society．＂Patriarchal system＂，＂shan－official system＂and＂headman system＂in the class society have substituted the primitive democratic systems and there is no possibility for the old traditional systems in each minority to transform into modern ones［1］．

2．2 Traditional civil authority in the Yugur in historyA typical case in point is the Yugur nationality，a distinctive minority in northwestern Gansu province．The Yellow head Uygurs，the ancestor of the Yugur，was first mentioned in the Sung dynasty．According to historical records，＂Uighur＂was a part of ancient Huihe in Ganzhou．In 840，Uighur Khan ate which was located to the north of Gobi Dissert collapsed and the ethnic groups dispersed．One of the ethnic group deferred to the Tibetan Regime controlling the Hexi area at that time and integrated with local Uighurs．They developed gradually and were called＂Hexi Uighur＂in historical records．The ancestors of the Yugur implemented various kinds of political systems at first and one of the earliest was the primitive gentile political system［1］．Later，feudal patriarchal clan system combining the gentile system with feudal system was mainly carried out till the liberation．From the Chongzhen reign of Ming dynasty to the establishment of new China，each tribe of the Yugur was ruled by the bosses．According to the folklore，the Yugur suffered from various kinds of difficulties when the ymoved to the east．When the nation was on the verge of extinction，aman called Ann Bater led the Yugur out of the danger with outstanding intelligence．Ann Bater made notable contribution to the nation and was elected to be the leader［4］．However，the political system of the Yugur gradually changed and only those with Ann as the surname could be the leaders．But，leaders of each small tribe could be elected separately．Hereditary succession of the big boss of the Yugur should be appointed by local big living Buddha．If the big boss did not come up to people's expectation or showed no competency，the big living Buddha could appointed a new one to take over the position．This is a kind of political system combining clan authority and religious authority within the tribe．The big boss should be careful and responsible for affairs within each tribe．His main tasks were to guarantee the security of the dominion and the normal operation of production and activities，including dealing with disputes between tribes，stealing，affray and robbery，taking care of public possession，handling diplomatic relations，formulating rules and coordinating conflicts about grassland．Once the big boss abandoned the original morality and were unjust in management or even integrated with the outside，he would be spat and reviled by the public and people then would no longer follow and trust him．The living Buddhas and leaders of tribes would hold a conference to elect a new big boss who would be formally appointed by the big living Buddha．Before the 1950s，big bosses owned shrinking power and remained in nominal control of the management of all tribes，but the power was actually limited in the north tribes．The other tribes were actually ruled by the leaders elected individually．Vice-leaders can be hereditary or elected．However，the so-called election was just a form，which was usually confirmed in advance by the big boss．The steward，assistants and＂the old men＂were all confirmed through joint negotiation of the bosses，upper class in religious conscience and herdsmen with the general tenure of one or three years and could be reappointed consecutively．Small leaders were appointed by leaders of the tribes and poor herdsmen who could not afford＂tea-horse＂tax in some tribes could be appointed with the general tenure of one to three years．Small leaders should send letters，run errands，collect＂tea-horse＂tax and fight for the bosses and even serve them．＂The old men＂，also called＂head of the clan＂，were responsible for collecting all kinds of funds and assisting the bosses in dealing with disputes．＂The old men＂were appointed by the bosses in Minghua district and Dahe district while the outgoing steward or assistants were usually appointed as＂the old men＂in Kangle district．Tribal conferences which were convened by the bosses made several elections every year and each household should attend．

2．3 Civil authority and grass-roots government in history

In history，civil authority usually served as the assistant of grassroots government．However，there were intense conflicts out of various issues，such as the revolt of Hui people in Shaanxi during the age of emperor Tongzhi of Qing dynasty．At that time，rulers of Qing dynasty resorted to provocative acts between the Hui and Han nationalities in order to consolidate the feudal rule．Due to the policies of＂protecting the Han and suppressing the Hui＂and＂controlling the Huiwith the Han＂，the Huipeople were socially disadvantaged and suffered discrimination．Besides，the Qing dynasty disintegrated and attacked the fights between the religious sects of northwest Hui people，the Hui community suffered unprecedented political suppression，which gave rise to the uprising led by local religious leaders with the goal of confronting grassroots government of the Qing dynasty．This revolt gradually evolved into disastrous bloody conflict between the Huiand Han nationalities and lasted for more than ten years，involving Shaanxi，Gansu，Ningxia，Qinghai and Xinjiang，and was finally suppressed by Dohlona's troops and the military of Qing dynasty with the priority of Xiang army．Another typical case is the Three-district Revolution in Xinjiang during the reign of KMT，which resulted from the corruption of the national government in Xinjiang at that time as well as the constant suppression and increasing taxes．Constantly imposed taxes and plundering sparked the public rebellion．In August1944，Aini，Akebail，Vatke and some others led people of all nationalities in Nileke county in Xinjiang and initiated the Nileke Uprising，which was the beginning of the Three-district Revolution．After nearly one year of bloody and fierce battles，rebels completely occupied Ili，Tacheng and Altai．With the three districts as the revolutionary base area，they established government at all levels and armed force，including the national army and guerrilla forces，in order to fight against the reactionaries of KMT，taking the armed struggle as the main form．The battle lasted till the peaceful liberation of Xinjiang in 1949．

3 Civil authority in northwest minority regions after liberation

3．1 Decline of civil authority in northwest minorities before the reform and opening-upAfter the liberation，traditional civil authority in northwest minority regions began to decline due to the Ten-year Cultural Revolution and every level in society was ruled by the state power．In the tribes and villages of each nationality in northwest minority regions，the production team and villager committee substituted traditional civil authority．Traditional civil authority was gradually withdrawn from the public life and political levels in the tribe and was replaced by new governmental authority，such as the people's commune and its subordinated production brigade as well as the later village commune and villager committee．These organizations replaced the influence and control of traditional civil authority and have become the only political authority in the tribes．

3．2 Recovery of civil authority in northwest minorities after the rectification of the ultra-leftist lineAfter the rectification of the ultra-leftist line，traditional beliefs and customs have been gradually restored by the public and traditional culture of minorities has recovered．For example，the big living Buddha in the Tibetan area and Akhund in the Huiethnic district were responsible for intermediating civil disputes again．The disappeared traditional religious activities began to recover gradually and religious concepts revived．However，this did not mean civil authority could be as powerful as in the past and this kind of regeneration was the catharsis after long－term suppression．Although part of the traditional culture in some minority regions has recovered，the daily production and life as well as social structure have completely changed．A case in point is that the joint management of big bosses and religious leaders in the Yugur area has completely disappeared and the current religious leaders are only involved in the intermediation of civil disputes，not grass-roots politics．

3．3 Changes in civil authority of northwest minorities after the reform and opening-upAfter the reform and opening-up in the 1980s，northwest minorities share the common wish for getting out of poverty and becoming rich under the influence of advanced thoughts and the impingement of reform．1Traditional civil authority can no longer satisfy people's demand，and the same is also true of clan and religious authority．People are more enthusiastic at economic development and show more respect to those becoming rich in the tribes and villagers，hence new civil authority like leaders for becoming rich and leaders in science and technology promoting agriculture as well as animal husbandry

3．4 Present effects of civil authority in northwest minority regionsThe decline of traditional civil authority does not necessarily mean the vanishing of its effects．1It is quite difficult for people in northwest minority regions to engage a lawyer，ask for notarization and legal service，so civil authority is still responsible for intermediating disputes．For example，although religious authority has declined in the Tibetan area，herdsmen are more likely to turn to lama and temple due to the subconsciousness formed during the long history and the particular function of religion there．Grassland disputes and large-scale cow and horse stealing cannot be addressed with single effort of governmental authority，but requires the intermediation of religious civil authority．

The above discussed application of traditional civil authority in the present society justifies that civil authorities can also bring benefits for the general public today and their relation with the state power is not contradiction or complete separation，but unification under the whole social economy．

4 Problem s and countermeasures in the construction of rural grass-roots democracy and social autonomy in northwest minority regions

Theoretically speaking，the era of state power controlling each field in the society and suppressing normal development of civil authority has gone．In rural areas of northwest minority regions，civil authority does play an essential role in maintaining local social order as well as balancing justice and power．The regeneration of civil authority justifies the requirement for diverse civil authorities in rural areas of northwest minority regions．

4．1 Influence of traditional civil authority on the construction of rural grass-roots democracy and social autonomy in northwest minority regionsDue to the particularity of northwest minority regions，there are many problems in the construction of local grass-roots democracy and social autonomy．

4．1．1Low identity of mainstream culture In Waters' opinion，people select some kind of national identity because they believe they can be accepted and respected by the society more easily．Marxism believes that＂social being determines social consciousness＂．1In northwest minority regions，over propaganda of ethnic pride by some traditional civil authorities has caused low identity of mainstream culture and grass-roots political power among local young people，which directly results in difficulties for local residents to integrate into mainstream social culture and lack of legal consciousness．

4．1．2Lack of democratic subject consciousness and democratic concepts Traditional political culture in China belongs to subject culture，which requires all people to be subject to the political rulers．For minorities，this kind of obedience emphasizes not only the adherence and submission to the monarchical power but also the integration with leading political culture．For example，Islam asks the Is la mists to be subject to the will of Allah and the religious political power as well as secular power．Besides，Buddhism also objects to disdain for others and requires submission to political power．

4．1．3Emphasis on religious beliefs and lack of legal consciousness A notable feature of minorities in China is that most of minorities have their own religious beliefs，therefore religious activities are indispensable in social life，which is why political culture of minorities usually possess obvious religious characteristics．Religion provides basic values for the believers，which usually become the essential psychological basis for political recognition，sentiments and evaluation．The public have strong religious consciousness and dependence on religion while lack political trust and political tolerance with blind obedience，which affects the formation of national political culture．

4．1．4Influence on grass-roots election In northwest minority regions，the position of village head or village secretary of the party is usually regarded as the criteria for the influence of religious power．Therefore，grass-roots election in those areas is hard to be open and justified．

Elections are usually manipulated by local powerful clans and national policies could not be fully implemented．Election，supervision and recall which should be consecutively operated have to be interrupted．

4．1．5Influence on production，life and living customs Due to the influence of traditional authority in northwest minorites，some corrupt customs which are not in accordance with the construction of socialist spiritual civilization have not been eliminated．Local people are not willing to accept new culture or thoughts and advanced production technology as well as tools cannot be promoted and applied，which directly causes low productivity and difficulties for improving people's living standards．

4．1．6Influence of new civil authority on production and life in ethnic regions The rising of new civil authority has played positive effect on the economic development in minority regions．Different from traditional ones，new civil authorities stand for local leaders of becoming rich and leaders in science and technology promoting agriculture as well as animal husbandry．Those new civil authorities are more likely to accept advanced thoughts and scientific technology．Under their influence，local residents can accept new technology and thoughts more quickly，therefore new agricultural and husbandry technologies can be promoted and applied in order to finally improve living standards of local people．

4．1．7Influence of new civil authority on culture in ethnic regions New civil authorities can get more information and know new things more quickly，so they can easily accept advanced culture and have strong identity of mainstream culture．Under their guidance，local residents have begun to accept advanced culture，change bad customs and increase their identity of mainstream culture．

4．2 Methods of constructing rural grass-roots democracy and social autonomy in northwest minority regions

4．2．1Perfecting the construction of socialist market economy system Market economy is the foundation of the existence and development of democratic political culture．The best way to establish modern democratic awareness among minorities and improve their abilities of political participation is to quicken the economic development and perfect market economy system in minority regions．The government should provide financial support for minority regions and narrow the gap in economic development among different regions，following the principle of supporting development，solving difficulties，serving tax payment as well as investigating illegality．1There should be no limitation in development speed，development proportion，operation scale，operation mode or business scope if no laws or policies are violated in order to create favorable external conditions for the political culture in minority regions．Besides，for minority regions，the adjustment of regional industrial structure and transform of economic growth mode should be quickened．Market economy system should be gradually cultivated and perfected．Right consciousness and democratic concepts of minorities should also be improved．Meanwhile，special attention should be paid to the preservation of ecological environment in order to achieve sustainable development and lay social foundation for the comprehensive development in minority regions．

4．2．2Selection and utilization of current systems Some rules and regulations like＂village regulations and folk conventions＂which are pervasive in minority regions can be effectively utilized．However，modern democratic contents should be properly added while those which are not beneficial to rural social economy，culture and democratic politics should be abandoned．

4．2．3Properly guiding the development speed and direction of civil authority Religious belief and trust of minorities should be correctly guided in order to serve the government and bring benefits to the common people．Meanwhile，educational investment in northwest minority regions should be strengthened to improve the educational level of local minorities．

4．2．4Strengthening ideological and political education at school School is formal，effective and systematic structure in political socialization．The role of school in cultivating people's political sentiments and basic values is emphasized in every political system．Students around the world learn courses related to politics systematically．School imparts theoretical knowledge to students，guide their political interest，cultivate their political belief and train the initial political experience．In minority regions，school construction and citizens' cultural education should be emphasized．Basic knowledge about political system should be imparted and conveyed to strengthen people's identity and loyalty to the country．Besides，the publicity of democratic and legal awareness is to be strengthened to help people to establish correct value of freedom and equality as well as democracy and legislation．Through diverse education methods and publicity of democratic political culture，members in the society could gradually become the required political persons．

4．2．5Improving the proliferation of mass media Mass media has played increasingly important role in promoting political socialization in modern society．With newspaper，magazine，TV，video and the Internet as the carrier，the mass media conveys some kind of tendentious political value and expectation directly or indirectly so as to effectively influence and mould the political sentiments，recognition，evaluation and selection of the general population．

The2270 representatives elected in the18th Congress contain 692 party members from the forefront of production，accounting for 30．5%in total and 2．1 per cent higher than the figure in the17th Congress，which fully displays the impressive progress in the construction of grass-roots democratic politics．The Communist Party of China explicitly points out in the Party Constitution that the Communist Party of China is the vanguard both of the Chinese working class and of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation．It is the core of leadership for the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics．The increasing proportion of grass-roots party representatives is the vivid illustration of inner－party democracy．The Communist Party of China constantly emphasizes the grass roots with full attention and services，insists on the construction of grass-roots democratic politics as well as improves people's status of mastering their own country．The growth of grass-roots representatives displays that the the orientation of election focuses on the grass-roots and construction of grass-roots democratic politics is moving to maturity progressively．The central government explicitly required that representatives from the forefront of production should be properly increased in the 18th Congress and advanced models among workers，farmers as well as professionals should be specially recommended since they are the most representative in expressing requirements of the general public．More feelings and confusions from the grass-roots can be known while the instructions and experience from the high authorities can be promoted．Grassroots democracy has been gradually enlarged in recent years and people's material as well as spiritual life has been impressively enhanced，which benefits from the grass-roots construction．It has been proved that being deeply rooted in the grass roots and the general population is the only way to collect wisdom and power and to lead all Chinese people in overcoming difficulties，achieving progress and pursuing development through joint efforts．

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