International Conference on Chinese Rural Collectives and Voluntary
Organizations:

BETWEEN STATE ORGANIZATION AND PRIVATE INTEREST.

Leiden, 9-12 January 1995.
Organizers: Frank N. Pieke and Eduard B. Vermeer.

BACKGROUND
More than any other country, China has used rural collective organization as
units of administration, production, and consumption. During the 1956-1983
period, collective organization was dominant in most aspects of rural
politics, economy and society, as the Chinese government had devolved many of
its functions to the People's Communes and Production Brigades and forbade
many private economic activities. The Household Responsibility System did away
with the major forms of collective management. The local political structures
of communes, brigades, and teams were changed into townships and
administrative villages which were only supposed to carry out limited and
mainly administrative functions.
Nevertheless, the collective tradition has not died. A number of economic and
social activities in the country is still collectively organized, for
financial, political, or organizational reasons. In many areas, the rural
population still has sizable corv‚e labour obligations. Because of past
experiences, there is a certain mistrust among Chinese farmers of government
and collectively-organized activities. There are exceptions, of course, and
some may feel that life was more secure during the period of collective
organization.
Once farmers began to diversify their operations--as with other rural
entrepreneurs--they needed better access to markets for inputs and outputs,
access to capital, specialized knowledge and management skills. In most cases,
the acquisition of these is clearly beyond the capabilities of individual
households. Therefore, both government officials and farmers saw a great need
for cost-effective service organizations, which should become as
self-supporting as possible. Moreover, rural modernization depends critically
on improvements in rural education and health care, fields where village
government and organizations have an important role to play.
In response to these needs, a wide variety of corporations and voluntary
associations has sprung up. Township and village administrations, often with
the active involvement of their cadres and former cadres, also play a crucial
role in the co-ordination of local economic life and its integration into the
regional economy. The collective period has left an important legacy of
leadership structures relevant to modernization in the context of a market
economy.
Over-utilization and waste of natural resources is a serious problem in many
countries, and often particularly damaging in poverty areas. The Chinese
government is presently conducting a number of rural anti-poverty programmes,
sometimes with the assistance of foreign agencies. There appears to be a great
need for reconstructing viable and strong local voluntary organizations, which
can absorb and build on outside economic aid. In many pastoral and mountain
areas, the privatization of collective or state-owned grassland and forest
resources has failed, posing the question of how common property resource
management leading to sustainable utilization might be achieved.
The recent introduction of the Agricultural Law has underlined the need to
establish the relations between village government and the contracting farming
households on a more explicit, equitable, and democratic footing. Important
aspects are the redefinition of future relationships between the private,
collective, and state, and also a better understanding of the functions and
authority of semi-autonomous voluntary associations.

FOCUS OF THE CONFERENCE
The conference will focus on the functions and position of collective and
voluntary organizations versus state organizations and rural households. More
specifically, it will focus on Northwest China and the pastoral areas, and the
role of voluntary organizations in the management and development of common
property resources.

Scholars from different academic disciplines, including but not limited to
Management Science, Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Sciences,
Sinology and Rural Development Studies, are invited to submit proposals for
papers. Contributors are expected to address one or more relevant aspects of
the theme, or place it within the larger context of rural development in China
or other countries. The focus may be on any of the following topics:
- the process of decollectivization and its consequences for rural
organization;
- recent experiences in the formation of professional and voluntary
associations in China;
- common property resource management in China, and in pastoral and mountain
areas in other developing countries;
- contractual relations and legal positions of government agencies,
collectives and co-operatives in present-day rural China;
- the rural institutional framework of poverty relief programmes; or
- any other subject relevant to the theme.

OBJECTIVES
There are two objectives. The first is to produce a scholarly publication
which will be relevant for both academics and specialists working in rural
development projects. Its significance should also extend to those other than
China specialists. Wageningen Press has indicated its interest in publishing
an edited volume of papers ensuing from the conference (along the lines of
E.B.Vermeer (Ed.), From Peasant to Entrepreneur: Growth and Change in Rural
China, Wageningen 1992). Other papers might find an outlet in the (refereed)
quarterly journal China Information.
The second objective of the conference is to create a comparative framework
for the field project on systems of resource management in pastoral villages
in Ningxia to be undertaken by researchers from the Justus Liebig University
in Giessen (Germany), the University of Ancona (Italy) and Leiden University
in co-operation with their Chinese counterparts, in the course of 1994.
Conference participants are encouraged to combine and integrate their
individual research experiences from different areas within and outside China,
and foster the basis for a common understanding.

PARTICIPANTS
Apart from about ten participants from the above-mentioned universities, we
extend an open invitation to scholars working in this field. Participants are
asked to indicate their attendance and provide an outline of their
contribution before the end of May 1994. Draft papers should be submitted
before 15 October, 1994. It is intended that the number of participants be
between 20 and 25. In addition, the conference will be open to junior
researchers from the International Institute for Asian Studies in Leiden, and
from the universities of Wageningen and Rotterdam. 

LOCATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL DETAILS
The conference will be held in the centre of Leiden, next to the Sinological
Institute. Leiden is conveniently located between Amsterdam and The Hague, and
is a 20-minute train ride from Amsterdam Airport (Schiphol). Costs of
participation will be determined soon, pending the outcome of our requests for
subsidies from various organizations. We expect to be able to cover the costs
of room and board for conference participants. For some, a refund of part of
the travel costs is possible. Papers will be circulated in advance.

The organizers welcome suggestions for papers and themes, and will be happy
to answer any queries. 

For further information please contact:
CRCVO Conference, Woei Lien Chong
Sinological Institute
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Fax: +31-71-272615   Tel. +31-71-272516
email: dcsinologi@let.leidenuniv.nl