4.7 Focus groups
4.7.3 Synthesis of the four focus groups and explanation of the classification of each item into
The researcher synthesised the four focus groups into the following four tables: Tables 3 and 433, and Tables 5 and 6 34. Based on the categorisation given by the participants in the field research, the researcher put the functions practiced by the participants into four different
33
Tables 3 and 4 appear also in Chapter Six for analysing the four functions of the deputies in representing the interests of the state towards the community.
34
Tables 5 and 6 appear also in Chapter Seven for analysing the four functions of the deputies in representing the interests of the community towards the state.
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groups: (i) promoting the strategy of the Party/promoting the voice of the community, (ii) enforcing laws and policies of the state/localising the policies of the state, (iii) implementing livelihood projects, and (iv) developing political/ethnic representation. This synthesis facilitates the analysis in Chapter Six and Seven.
The researcher classified each research question into both achievements and challenges. This
classification is a demonstration of the deputies’ opinions while they were discussing the
ways to represent the interests of the state and/or the interests of the community. The achievements and challenges in Tables 3 and 4, and Tables 5 and 6 are regarded as two sides of a coin by the participants in representing the interests of the state and/or the community. In Tables 3 and 4, the researcher classified the items for both achievements and challenges into four functions which the deputies play in representing the interests of the state towards the community: (i) promoting the strategy of the Party, (ii) enforcing laws and policies of the state, (iii) implementing livelihood projects, and (iv) developing political representation. In the above Diagrams 1-4, the researcher lists the ranking that each item has in the focus groups from one to five. Those items which have zero score in the interview are ranked with a mark ×.
Table 3: Representing the interests of the state: Achievements
Representing the state: Achievements (RSAn=21) Functions 1. Implementation of the Party’s line, principles and policies
2. Promoting the development of China’s western regions 3. National unity
Function 1: Promoting the strategy of the Party 4. Family planning policy *
5. Family planning policy
6. Implementation of national policies
7. Maintaining and supporting the state education policy 8. Promotion of the industrial development nationwide
Function 2: Enforcing laws and policies of the state
9. Implementation of livelihood policies 10. Minimum subsistence security system 11. Old age pension *
12. New rural cooperative medical care system * 13. Renovation of unsafe housing
14. Preferential policies for farmers * 15. Construction of infrastructure * 16. Improvement of education standard
Function 3: Implementing livelihood projects
17. Assured voting rights
18. Enhancing political power at grassroots level 19. Development of human rights
20. Oversight role * 21. Popularising the laws
Function 4: Developing political representation
The asterix * refers to those items which appear two or more times in either the achievements or the challenges, in Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6. For example, the item “family planning policy” appears twice, so the asterix* is marked after the first appearance of this item.
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In Tables 5 and 6, the similar classification is done with the four functions which the deputies play in representing the interests of the community towards the state: (i) promoting the voice of the community, (ii) localising policies of the state, (iii) implementing livelihood projects, and (iv) developing ethnic representation. The four tables possess similar classification of the
deputies’ roles. The difference between them is that Tables 3 and 4 indicate the four functions of the deputies’ in representing the interests of state and Tables 5 and 6 indicate the four
functions of the deputies’ in representing the interests of community.
Table 4: Representing the interests of the state: Challenges
Representing the state: Challenges (RSCn=22) Functions 1. Spiritual work
2. Charisma 3. Corruption 4. Social stability
Function 1: Promoting the strategy of the Party
5. Family planning policy 6. Education
7. Rural-urban income inequality
Function 2: Enforcing laws and policies of the state
8. Livelihood projects 35 9. Funding
10. Lack of expertise and funding * 11. Technical resources
12. Project profitability 13. Natural resources
Function 3: Implementing livelihood projects
14. Backward ideas36
15. Improvement of quality and ability of deputies 16. Oversight role
17. Low political awareness of the local people 18. Insufficient understanding of representation 19. Lack of understanding of policies by the villagers 20. Conflicts and disputes
21. Conflicts of interest 22. Soliciting public opinions
Function 4: Developing political representation
So with regard to the idea about the Party-state, the researcher divided promoting the Party’s strategy and enforcing laws and policies of the state into two different functions in Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6. The basis for this classification relies on the general understanding of the relations
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Livelihood projects refer to a series of policies and projects taken by the Chinese governments at different levels in order to fully guarantee the basic rights of the people and to improve the people’s standard of living by the principle of “human first” and the implementation of “the concept of scientific development”. Livelihood projects focus on vulnerable groups and include policies and projects such as minimum subsistence security, economic housing, employment and social security system, etc. Different provinces in China have different priorities in terms of livelihood projects.
36
According to the experience of the researcher, the English word backward is widely used in China to express any ideas, opinions or infrastructure such as transportation, or development process which are lagging behind in both urban and rural areas. Therefore, in this thesis, the word backward is used without any bias and/or discrimination, and it just describes the fact of “backwardness” in the development process in China.
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between/among the Party, the state and the community and that China is under the domination of one party, the China Communist Party (CCP or the Party). The Party is the core of power. The Party and the state are regarded usually as the same. In this research, the researcher separates the state (government) from the Party while discussing the roles of
deputies. The Party’s Central Committee makes important strategies such as, regulating its
principals and lines, and the strategies on developing the Western regions and promoting national unity.
Table 5: Representing the interests of the community: Achievements
Representing the community: Achievements (RCAn=19) Functions 1. Listening to the voice of the local people *
2. Listening to the voice of the local people 3. Transmitting the voice of the people 4. Justice and fairness
5. Introducing advanced ideas and technology 6. Unity and cooperation
Function 1: Promoting the voice of the community
7. Promotion of national policies 8. Guiding economic development
Function 2: Localising policies of the state 9. Construction of infrastructure
10. Construction of infrastructure
11. New rural cooperative medical care system 12. Old age pension
13. Preferential policies for farmers
14. Setting up and developing the local economy
Function 3: Implementing livelihood projects
15. Setting a good example
16. Submitting motions, suggestions and criticisms
17. Fulfilling responsibilities and carrying out oversight role 18. Promoting democratic politics
19. Doing actual things for people
Function 4: Developing ethnic representation
Table 6: Representing the interests of the community: Challenges
Representing the community: Challenges (RCCn=19) Functions 1. Level of satisfaction
2. Difficulty in the implementation of motions 3. Insufficient prioritizing by leadership
Function 1: Promoting the voice of the community
4. National policies
5. Insufficient supporting policies
Function 2: Localising policies of the state 6. Difficult implementation 7. Funding 8. Construction of infrastructure 9. Livelihood 10. Project fund 11. Inadequate technology 12. Project selection
13. Lack of expertise and funding 14. Low standard of farmer’s know-how 15. Weak infrastructure in rural areas 16. Integration of resources
17. Unrealistic demands by people
Function 3: Implementing livelihood projects
18. Transformation of idea
19. Personal interests above all else
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With their extensive control over political powers, the Party Committees at different levels have the authority to select, appoint and remove officials whenever necessary, even if these officials are of moderate importance. Moreover, many officials in the governments and
People’s Congresses at different levels are Party members. In this view, the Party is the state. Since the 1980s “China has made significant progress in the separation of the Party and the state” (K. Yu, 2002, p. 186) This twinning revealed itself in one focus group, when the
researcher asked one deputy: “What do you mean by the state?” The deputy answered: “I mean that the state is the government”.
The Party has led the people to build the state organs of China, but it doesn’t mean that its identity is administration and execution. The Party plays an essential role in political leadership such as the leadership of the political principles, important decision-making and recommendation of cadres to the state organs. The government (the state) is one of the power organs. It makes policies and administrative regulations under the leadership and guidance of the Party such as those related to family planning, national education and industry development policies in Tables 3 and 4.
The “fixed terms” 37of the Chinese governments make them “invulnerable”
(Manion, 2008, p. 610) from the legislative action of the People’s Congresses. As a new actor in Chinese local
political arena, the Local People’s Congresses (LPCs) are less powerful politically than the local Party Committee and local governments, though their roles have “unquestionably expanded” (Cabestan, 2006, p. 67) since 1978, the year marking China’s reform and opening- up to the outside world. So the LPCs have to make a long-lasting relationship with both the Party and the government by their strategy of embeddedness (J. He, 2004; K. J. O'Brien, 1994b) and it is both “a process and a strategy” (K. J. O'Brien, 1994b, p. 99). The
requirement of embeddedness proves that the People’s Congresses are not separate from the
Party and the government and that they are not competitors at this stage.
Instead, the LPCs utilise such a strategy of embeddedness to continue expanding their power. Therefore, promoting the strategies of the Party and the policies of the state forms an
essential political task for the deputies of the People’s Congresses at different levels. Since
the reform of Chinese People Congresses in the 1980s, many deputies’ consciousness of their
37The concept “fixed terms” means that the office tenure for the governments and their corresponding leaders
is fixed according to the laws. For example, one term of the county people’s government is five years. So the power of the county people’s congress to impeach leaders at the same level is highly constrained and very limited.
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role, that they represent the interests of the community, has increased. For example, in the individual interviews, many LCPC deputies explained and described how they represent the
interests of their constituents. So the third classification of deputies’ roles is “implementing livelihood projects”. The implementation of livelihood projects is a most direct way to “do actual things for people” (Diagram 2 of FG 4), and at a macro-level, to represent the interests
of the constituents. The fourth group of functions of deputies is “developing political/ethnic representation”, which includes two facets for deputies in the LCPC: political representation
and ethnic representation. The former is a nationwide issue; the latter is specific in the area where Miao ethnic minority accounts for the majority of its population.