Since 1988, China has undergone one of the largest, but least understood
experiments in grassroots democracy. Across 600,000 villages in China,
with almost a million elections, some three million officials have been
elected.
The Chinese government believes that this is a step towards `democracy
with Chinese characteristics'. But to many involved in them, the
elections have been mired by corruption, vote-rigging and cronyism.
This book looks at the history of these elections, how they arose, what
they have achieved and where they might be going, exploring the specific
experience of elections by those who have taken part in them - the
villagers in some of the most deprived areas of China.