The financial burdens imposed on peasants have become a major source of discontent in the Chinese countryside and a worrisome source of political and social instability for the Chinese government. Throughout the 1990s and into the new century, much of rural China has been in a state of crisis as tension has grown between the peasant masses and the state. Farmers who bitterly resented the taxburden began increasingly to protest (sometimes violently) against unpredictable and open-ended financial exactions by predatory local governments. Local rural officials, in turn, are driven by intense pressure to develop and modernize in order to catch up with the more highly developed coastal areas.

Bernstein and L¨u show how and why China’s developmental programs led to contentious, complicated relationships between peasants and the central and local governments. They discuss the reasons why peasants in grain-growing “agricultural China” have benefited far less during the reform era than those in the industrializing coastal areas. They examine the forms and sources of heavy, informal taxation and shed light on how peasants defend their interests by adopting strategies of collective resistance (both peaceful and violent). The authors also explain why the central government, although often siding with the peasants, has not been able to solve the burden problem by instituting a sound, reliable financial system in the countryside. The regime has, to some extent, sought to empower peasants to defend their interests – informing them about taxr ules,

expanding the legal system, and instituting village elections – but these attempts have not yet generated enough power from “below” to counter powerful local governments.

The case studies featured here offer rare insight into Chinese political life in the

countryside. This is the first in-depth English study of the problem of aggressive taxation by local governments in contemporary China and its social and political implications. Bernstein and L¨u help explain howthis has played a large role in defining the relationship between the state and peasants in the reform period. Their analysis adds to the larger debate over whether China’s growing strength could pose a threat to other countries, or whether China’s leaders will be preoccupied with domestic problems such as this one.

吕晓波获早年获柏克莱加州大学政治学博士,本科就读的是和邓正来、刘小枫一起的四川外国语学院,硕士毕业与外交学院。现任美国哥伦比亚大学政治学教授。其学术研究领域包括比较政治、东亚政治、中国政治经济改革及中美关系等。他的英文著述包括《单位体制的历史及比较研究》、《干部与腐败》、《中国当代农村税赋与民主》 等书籍以及许多学术文章。他还曾获得优秀教授奖。

作为哥伦比亚大学东亚研究所50年历史上第一任亚裔所长,吕晓波教授除了学术研究和教学外还积极致力于促进美国公众对中国的了解以及中美关系的发展。他现为美国百人会 (Commitee of 100) 会员、美国外交事务协会 (Council on Foreign Relations) 会员、美中关系全国委员会(National Committee on US-China Relations) 会员。他多次接受各大新闻媒体就有关中国、东亚和中美关系问题的采访。他曾在美国许多学术机构、智库、社会团体、公司讲演或咨询。