Support for anti-corruption campaigns in rural China

Abstract

Based on data collected in a survey conducted in six Chinese provinces at the end of 1997 and early 1998, this article offers a preliminary analysis of why some peasants wished to see Mao-style anti-corruption campaigns. It shows that the support for campaigns is negatively correlated with the respondents' evaluation of local officials' performance in governing by law, their confidence in the equality before the law, and their assessment of the effectiveness of lawful participation. It concludes that popular support for mass mobilization could contribute to rural instability as Chinese farmers become increasingly impatient with the regime's failure to control corruption.