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Organising the Old: Senior Authority and the Political Significance of a Rural Chinese ‘Non-Governmental Organisation’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2008

METTE HALSKOV HANSEN
METTE HALSKOV HANSEN*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Dept. of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, p.b. 1010 Blindern 0315 Oslo, Norway Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article argues that villagers' weakened trust in local governments has caused the officials to develop new strategies to cooperate with people and groups who enjoy traditional forms of authority. More specifically, the article shows how the officially established Old People' Associations in some areas have gained political influence far beyond what their official status as an “NGO” (minjian zuzhzi) would warrant. Villages of Fujian have a long history of being organised around patrilinear lineage organisations, and especially the older men still enjoys authority among the population. Local authorities, as well as business people, are therefore actively trying to engage and mobilise this traditional senior authority for their own political and economic purposes, thereby creating new relations of local power.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , September 2008 , pp. 1057 - 1078
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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