Abstract
Inspections to villages are an important mechanism for the Chinese government to gain and retain its ruling legitimacy. However, whether inspections have been effectively utilized for that designated purpose of sustainable governance remains less clear. We know very little about how the Chinese government employs inspections to boost its public approval. This study sets out to examine that effect, contending that inspections to Chinese villages significantly boost the public approval of village leaderships by promoting the governing efficacy of village leaders. The consistent practice of inspections results in a sustained level of public support for the Chinese government. This causal relationship between inspections and public approval holds, first, by improving village social welfare and economic development, and second, by securing for village leaders essential political and financial support from higher authorities to better represent villagers’ interests and mediate conflicts among villagers. Using data of 961 randomly selected villages across China, the empirical analysis shows that Chinese government inspections significantly boost villagers’ approval regarding their village leaders.
Highlights
In its more than five-thousand-year history, China has seen constant changes of its dynasties
These administrative endeavors pay off when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is to reap public support from the very people whom it has elevated out of poverty and protected from social instability
Touring rural regions of China serves the CCP strategic political interest, as these inspections constantly strengthen the Party’s local foundation and refresh the positive image that the Party has endeavored to construct from its inception
Summary
In its more than five-thousand-year history, China has seen constant changes of its dynasties. Instead, ousted the incumbents and inaugurated their own revolutionary heroes into office. This repeated practice of failed regimes overthrown by groups of disgruntled peasants, since the early times of Chinese history, renders ruling legitimacy an essential ingredient for a lasting and thriving reign in China [2]. Apart from the regular administration of national affairs in the royal palace, the emperors often set out to tour different localities for strategic purposes. The emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (1711–1799) was known for his diligent but extravagant inspection tours to localities to ensure social stability and popular satisfaction with his governance [3]. The Emperor Wudi of Han (110 BC) toured the high places on the mountaintops to pay religious tributes to the gods, because an important part of his ruling legitimacy relied upon the popular belief in his heavenly mandated kingship [4]
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