Social Connectedness in Marginal Rural China 287development in Taoliwa was originated by an urban kin, the son of General Liu.
As an engineer in a state oil company (about 200km away from the village), Mr
Liu was persecuted and forced to return to the village during the period of the
‘cultural revolution’ (1966–1976), owing to his father’s history. It provided a
unique opportunity for him to gain an in-depth understanding of rural poverty
and development. Although his political reputation and position recovered in
1979, he kept close contact with his village, visiting every year. He came to stress
the following opinions to his rural kin and neighbours:
The village’s environmental and development issues [e.g. deforestation, inaccessibility to
a road] will not be solved if we wait for the government. Rather than be dependent on
external assistance, it would be better if all villagers were united and cooperated to open
a ‘green account’ for afforestation and pasture plantation. The significance of coopera-
tive afforestation is not only to provide a sustainable treasure for our descendants, but,
if it succeeds, it will offer a novel path for our neighbouring villages and even Zhidan
county as a whole – that is, close unity and cooperation rather than the current indi-
vidualist development will lead to a sustainable future.Gradually, this idea was shared and supported by all villagers, and the first plan for
a firewood plantation emerged at a village meeting chaired by him. Based upon the
success of afforestation, a long-term strategy of agricultural innovation and village
development was discussed and approved by all villagers in the early 1990s, which
then became the blueprint for village development and cooperation. Besides
designing the plan, his particular contribution was the establishment and develop-
ment of a cooperative mechanism, by which all issues related to inter-household
relationships and village development are discussed and negotiated in public meet-
ings among all households. Following Mr Liu’s idea, a leading core group of three
middle-aged farmers has taken charge of organizing, coordinating and harmoniz-
ing all households to implement the blueprint.
To improve rural infrastructure, Mr Liu returned to the village to design and
initiate a 4km length of vehicle-suitable road, just after he retired in 1993. Without
exogenous funding, he contributed 3000 yuan from his personal savings and wrote
letters to all urban kin nationwide for further donations. Though he died in the period
of road construction that winter, Mr Liu’s death did not halt the progress of proposed
projects, but encouraged villagers to strengthen their unity and cooperation. Learning
from Mr. Liu, more urban kin (including his son) have participated in their home vil-
lage reconstruction, and ‘building an evergreen home village’ (villagers’ phrase) has
become a common objective shared by both villagers and their urban kin.
Despite its uniqueness, this case does contain some common elements con-
tributing to the establishment, maintenance and development of community
innovations. The historic heritage of the Liu’s clan was an advantage, as descend-
ants in the village could reorganize themselves to address ecological degradation
and firewood shortages. However, without the spark provided by Mr Liu, these
ecological pressures might not have led to innovative organization. An ‘opinion