Model Villages and Village Realities

Abstract

This article is a partial exploration of the relevance and usefulness of models for rural development in China. Dating back to the days of the Border Regions and guerrilla bases of the 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party has publicized the advanced (xianjin) and the model (mofan) units, rewarding them symbolically and materially, and holding them up for study and emulation. Sometimes these designations are awarded to individuals, sometimes to entire work units, that is, factories and industrial enterprises, agricultural teams (shengchandui), brigades (da dui), or entire communes. There have been widespread longterm national campaigns centered on models: for example, the Lei Feng campaigns that have surfaced periodically over the past three decades, glorifying an ordinary soldier who embodies the virtues of hard work, thrift, consideration for others, dedication to the Party and the Motherland, and self-sacrifice. Or there was the two-decade-long campaign to learn from Dazhai, singling out a poor mountain village that reportedly followed the path of self-reliance. Using collective effort and sacrifice to transform the natural environment, laboriously building terraces and irriga-