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Unit 12: Politics of Representation and Participation

Table 12.3 Political Participation in Beijing, 1983-1988 (Percent reporting having participated Notes
in political act)

Political Act Percent

Voting for deputies to local people’s congress, 1988 72.3
Voting for deputies to local people’s congress, 1984 62.4
Contacting leaders of workplace 50.9
Complaining through bureaucratic hierarchy 42.8
Voting for leaders in workplace 34.7
Using connections (guanxi) 19.2
Complaining through trade unions 18.8
Working with others to solve social problems 16.1
Complaining through political organizations 14.9
Slowing down on the job 12.5
Writing letters to government officials 12.4
Giving gifts in exchange for help 8.2
Persuading others to attend campaign meetings for deputies 8.9
Complaining through people’s congress deputies 8.6
Persuading others to attend campaign meetings or briefing meetings at workplace 7.7
Organizing others to fight against leaders 7.5
Writing letters to newspaper editors 6.7
Persuading others to vote for certain leaders in workplace elections 6.1
Persuading others to vote for certain deputies in local people’s congress elections 5.2
Whipping up public opinion against workplace leaders 5.0
Persuading others to boycott unfair workplace elections 4.6
Reporting to complaint bureaus 4.0
Requesting audience with higher authorities 3.8
Persuading others to boycott unfair local people’s congress elections 3.7
Bringing cases to court 1.7
Writing “big-character posters” 1.1
Participating in strikes 0.9
Participating in demonstrations 0.5

Source: Tianjian Shi, Political Participation in Beijing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1977), p. 94. Based on survey conducted in 1988-1989.

Elections and an electoral connection between citizens and leaders are integral to liberal democratic
conceptions of representation. For this reason, governments and nongovernmental organizations in
liberal democracies have paid close attention to electoral reforms in China. Indeed, many have provided
support of various sorts (to train a new corps of election workers, for example), and the Chinese
authorities have accepted this support. How do the electoral reforms fit into the framework of
Communist Party guardianship?
Elections to local people’s congresses in the Maoist years were political rituals, featuring no candidate
choice and no secret ballot. Voters directly elected deputies to township-level congresses only; at
higher levels, deputies were elected by congresses at the level immediately below. Such elections
served as vehicles of regime legitimation, popular education, and political socialization—but they

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