The Path and Subject of Rural Governance Studies: A Response to Ying Xing's Critique

Translation © 2008 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Chinese text: Wu Yi, He Xuefeng, Luo Xingzuo, Dong Leiming, and Wu Licai, “Cunzhi yanjiu de lujing yu zhuti: Jian da Ying Xing xiansheng de piping,” Open Times (Kaifang shidai) 1 (2005), pp. 82–96. Abridged translation by Matthew A. Hale. Wu Yi and He Xuefeng are professors and Dong Leiming is an associate professor at the Center for Research on Rural Governance at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Luo Xingzuo is a professor at the Center for Social Stability and Crisis Management at Southwest University of Political Science and Law. Wu Licai is an associate professor at the Center for Chinese Rural Studies at Central China Normal University. *Xiangtu may be roughly translated as “native soil.” See Alexander Day, “Guest Editor’s Introduction,” Chinese Sociology and Anthropology 41, no.1 (Fall 2008), for a discussion of this term and its background.—Trans. Wu Yi, He Xuefeng, Luo Xingzuo, Dong Leiming, anD Wu Licai