Real Dilemma and Breakthrough Strategies of Party Building Leading Rural Good Governance—A Case of Dongying City ()
1. Research Background
The Central Document No. 1 of 2024 emphasizes that we should learn and apply the experience of the “Qian Wan Project” as a guide, focus on improving the level of rural industrial development, rural construction, and rural governance, fight a good battle for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas, and draw a new picture of a harmonious and beautiful countryside that is suitable for living and working. All localities in Shandong Province have always adhered to the overall leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), learned and applied the experience of the “Qian Wan Project”, promoted the upgrading of the “Qilu Model” of rural revitalization, and created a new pattern of good governance at the grassroots level under the guidance of Party building. As rural modernization accelerates, rural governance is evolving toward greater refinement and perfection. Rural governance methods continue to innovate, and development initiatives such as the “points system” and “Party building+” continue to unleash vitality for grassroots development. The level of rural digital governance has been significantly improved, digital and intelligent technologies such as “Internet+” have been widely used in rural areas. Good rural governance has become a crucial means for adapting to the modernization of China’s rural areas and gathering joint efforts for grassroots governance. In recent years, Party building has increasingly become an important gripper in enhancing the modernization of rural governance systems and capabilities (Huo, 2023). Grassroots Party organizations serve as the foundation of all the work and combat effectiveness for the CPC in rural areas. Strengthening the effectiveness of grassroots Party organizations in leading rural development through Party building is of great significance for building a robust rural governance system and achieving effective governance (Liu, 2023; Zhang, 2024). How to mobilize collective efforts for good rural governance and improve the level of rural governance under the leadership of the CPC is vital for resolving rural issues. It is of great significance to deeply understand the work experience and practical outcomes of the “Qian Wan Project” and the creation of a harmonious and beautiful countryside.
Good governance, as the name suggests, is a kind of good and beneficial governance. This concept is borrowed from both the traditional Chinese concepts of “good government” and “good governance” and the contemporary Western concept of “good governance”. It refers to the social management process that maximizes public interests, characterized by cooperative management between government and citizens. It represents a new relationship between the political state and civil society, achieving an optimal state for both (Yu, 1999). Since the 1990s, the idea of good governance has gained traction internationally and has been applied in various domains, including national and local governance, as well as enterprise management, yielding significant results (Hadi et al., 2023; Zhang & Wang, 2023).
As this theory continues to evolve, Qinghua Wang (Wang, 2017) believes that China’s political development primarily advances through governance reform, progressing toward good governance. Integrating the concepts and values of good governance into the “rule of law in China” aligns with national conditions while highlighting unique Chinese characteristics (Li & Fan, 2017). Rural governance is a long-term and challenging endeavor, and adherence to the leadership of the CPC remains crucial for advancing rural governance to a state of good governance (Gao, 2021; Li, 2021). As the backbone of the grassroots governance system, primary-level Party organizations serve as strong bastions for Party building and grassroots governance. Wenbin Wang and Cao Yang (Wang & Cao, 2023) believe that Party building leadership is an invaluable resource for establishing “China’s governance”. Lin Pan (Pan, 2023) focused on the logical foundations and practical manifestations of Party building leading grassroots social governance, and proposed key strategies to enhance governance effectiveness. Dalei Miao (Miao, 2024) believes that organizational decentralization, interest alignment and emotional bonding as critical elements for forming a grassroots social governance community under the leadership of Party. While existing research has provided a solid theoretical foundation for China’s Party building to lead the practice of good governance in rural areas, further exploration is needed. Most studies remains at a theoretical level, lacking sufficient integration with the realities of rural life. The pertinence and practicality of the proposed strategies need to be improved.
In view of this, this study selects Gaojia Village in Dongying City, Shandong Province as a case. Gaojia Village is a typical village in the Yellow River floodplain, which has long been restricted by the natural environment of the floodplain and has faced multiple problems in transportation, employment, etc. Under the strong leadership of the Party branch of Gaojia Village, after years of efforts, Gaojia Village has achieved transformation in terms of living environment, spiritual outlook, and grassroots governance, and has won more than ten honorary titles, including “National Model Village for Rural Governance”. The development path of Gaojia Village is a typical case of Dongying City achieving good rural governance through Party building. It can provide useful reference for clarifying grassroots governance ideas and finding methods of good rural governance.
This study is guided by the theory of good governance, focuses on the actual developments in Dongying City. It analyzes the dynamic practices of rural governance in Gaojia Village, aiming to explore practical challenges existing in Party building that lead to good governance in rural areas. Furthermore, it seeks to explore strategies for overcoming rural governance difficulties through emotional engine, relationship adjustment and action guarantee, ultimately achieving good governance in rural areas and promoting sustainable rural development.
2. Practice and Problems of Party Building in Leading Rural
Good Governance in Dongying City
As a significant city in Shandong Province, Dongying City has actively promoted innovative approaches to rural good governance under the guidance of Party building, showing remarkable results and vitality. While Dongying City is actively exploring ways to improve the effectiveness of rural governance, it faces pressing problems and challenges that need to be addressed urgently.
2.1. Overview of Dongying City
Dongying City is located in the Yellow River Delta region in the northern part of Shandong Province, serving as a hub connecting the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the Jiaodong Peninsula. It lies at the intersection of the Bohai Rim Economic Zone and the Yellow River Economic Belt, and is the central city of the Yellow River Delta. As of the end of 2023, the permanent population of Dongying City stood at 2.206 million, comprising 1.5991 million urban residents and 606,900 rural residents. In 2023, the city’s GDP reached 389.906 billion yuan, with per capita disposable income in rural areas totaling 23,642 yuan. In recent years, Dongying’s grassroots Party building work is closely focusing on the theme of “Innovation and Competition, All-round Development”, constantly innovating working methods and practical spirit, and comprehensively developing work in all fields.
2.2. Practical Exploration of Party Building Leading Good
Governance in Rural Areas
Dongying City gives full play to the role of Party building in leading the overall planning of industrial development, increasing villagers’ incomes, and urban-rural integration, and continues to explore effective methods and ways to improve the effectiveness of rural governance, and has achieved notable successes in Party organization building, Party organizations leading cooperatives, and village-enterprise joint construction.
1) Setting up Functional Party Organizations and Integrating the Organizational System
Dongying City focuses on key sectors, including the agricultural industry chain, social service organizations, and farmers’ cooperatives. It builds functional Party organizations—such as industry, governance, service, mass organizations, and cultur—tailored to local conditions, so as to promote the effective integration of Party organizations into all levels of rural society, ensuring the Party’s work effectively covers all types of rural organizations and groups, achieving development integration, governance integration, and service integration under the leadership of Party building. Dongying City continues to deepen the integrated development of oil and land, builds a functional Party organization of “characteristic branch + special Party members”, and guides veteran Party members to serve as exemplars. Dongying District has established an organizational system for industrial development consisting of “town-level common prosperity alliance Party committee - village Party organizations - industrial functional Party organizations - Party members”. It effectively collects various problems encountered in the process of industrial development through the connection between Party members and the masses, and gradually forms a set of problem-solving mechanism which connected from top to bottom and coordinated.
2) Party Organizations Leading Cooperatives and Guiding Industrial Development
Since 2019, Dongying City has actively promoted Party organizations to lead cooperatives by rectifying and standardizing existing farmers’ cooperatives and continuously enhancing their service functions. Tailored to local conditions, Dongying City promotes the land management service model comprising “village Party organizations leading cooperatives + supply and marketing cooperatives”, and improves the “guaranteed income + surplus dividends” distribution mechanism and the “full-process management + guaranteed commitment + agreed commission” service mechanism, promoting the efficient development of modern agriculture. Xianhe Town, Dongying Port Economic Development Zone, has created a multifunctional Helai Lake tourism area through cooperation led by the Party organization, relying on the new rural tourism format to give play to the advantages of leading villages with enterprises and promoting enterprises with villages, innovating the development of village collective economy, and driving the increase of people’s income. At present, 759 cooperatives led by Party organizations in Dongying City operate in a standardized manner, with collective economic income in all villages exceeding 100,000 yuan.
3) Party Building Leading Village-Enterprise Co-Construction and Promoting Urban-Rural Integration
Dongying City actively encourages state-owned enterprises and state-owned capital to enter the field of “agriculture, rural areas and farmers”, and profoundly reconstructs rural capital operations and agricultural organizational methods with corporate management concepts and methods. Focus on building a three-level linkage work pattern of “districts”, “towns” and “villages”: district-owned state-owned enterprises play a leading role in integrating resources and empowering capital; town-owned state-owned enterprises promote the effective connection between upper-level capital and rural resources by pulling capital and linking up and down; the village level focuses on solidifying market entities and exploring new development models. Through the village-enterprise co-construction model, promote the effective sinking of corporate resources and strengthen the “blood-making” ability of rural areas. At the same time, Dongying City promotes urban-rural integration, guiding villages and communities in the urban-rural fringe to gradually integrate into towns in accordance with urban planning for optimal resource allocation and sharing.
4) Party Building Leading the Construction of a Happy Home and Shaping a Governance Brand
Dongying City pays attention to transforming the political and organizational advantages of the CPC into governance effectiveness, promoting the comprehensive development of urban and rural communities and the continuous improvement of residents’ well-being. Dongying City is promoting the work of Party building to lead the construction of a happy home for urban and rural grassroots governance in the whole region, focusing on building six systems of leadership, organization, governance, service, development and guarantee. It aims to build grassroots Party organizations into a solid fortress for leading urban and rural grassroots governance, and is committed to shaping urban and rural communities into a happy home that is convenient and safe for the people. At the same time, it strives to create a “Dongying Model” with provincial and national significance within three years.
2.3. Problems and Challenges in Practical Exploration
Despite notable achievements in promoting Party building for effective governance in rural areas, Dongying City faces challenges related to emotional identification, relationship connection and action speed. These issues not only affect the efficiency and effectiveness of rural governance but also have direct implications for villagers’ livelihoods and quality of life.
1) Lack of Emotional Identification and Limited Participation
Strong emotional ties and trust are foundational to an “acquaintance society”. The imbalance in population structure caused by the hollowing out of villages has sharply weakened the original emotional identification among villagers. Population decline has led to a dual impact on the rural economy and culture, diminishing the vibrancy of development efforts. The loss of young labor and the decline of traditional industries have stunted economic vitality, and monotonous cultural activities have weakened the cohesion and centripetal force of the village. Among the eight villages in the Yellow River beach area of Beisong Town, Lijin County, there are 4683 registered residents, but fewer than 2000 permanent residents, with over 70% of the population being middle-aged or elderly. Population mobility is accompanied by changes in culture, values and lifestyles. The emotional connection between villagers and villages has weakened, and emotional identification has gradually disappeared. The traditional and conservative middle-aged and elderly groups have low acceptance of new governance concepts and methods, weak enthusiasm for participating in work, and increased difficulty in rural governance. The village lacks cohesion, and the villagers’ sense of belonging and responsibility has decreased, and their willingness to actively participate in social governance has decreased, resulting in an imbalance in the rural governance structure.
The lack of emotional identification has caused the villagers’ alienation from governance, which reveals the rift between the villagers and the village governance system. In the traditional rural governance model, decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of village committee members, and the opinions of ordinary villagers are difficult to be valued and adopted. The loss of decision-making power has aggravated the alienation of villagers, making them less concerned about and less involved in village affairs, forming a mentality of “it’s none of my business, I don’t care” and generally showing a phenomenon of passive participation.
2) Fragmented Connections and Lack of Democratic Governance
The closeness of the subject connection directly affects the democracy and effectiveness of governance. Some village Party branches exhibit lax organizational management, leading to behaviors such as embezzlement, favoritism. Since 2023, the Dongying Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision has reported more than 20 corruption cases, revealing weaknesses in political awareness and discipline among some Party members. Some Party members and cadres ignore and infringe upon the interests of the masses, erode the masses’ sense of gain and happiness, and seriously erode the relationship between the Party and the masses. Such phenomena reduce the villagers’ trust in the cadres and limit their opportunities to participate in decision-making, fostering skepticism toward village governance. The villagers’ distrust continues to accumulate and increase, causing them to gradually lose their enthusiasm and motivation to participate in village affairs, and the village governance lacks democracy.
In addition, there is a lack of effective communication and interaction between cadres and the masses, and a lack of diversified communication platforms and channels for villagers. The information asymmetry caused by poor communication not only affects the speed of conveying important policies and regulations, but also blocks the channels for villagers to express their demands and make suggestions. The communication barriers between “upper” and “lower” seriously affect the vital interests of villagers, reduce the villagers’ trust in the cadre team, and greatly reduce the enthusiasm of villagers to participate in governance.
3) Slow Action and the Effect is Difficult to Sustain
Rural development relies on a good policy environment and development opportunities. Under the current policy environment, although the country attaches great importance to and continuously supports the development of rural and poor areas, the Yellow River floodplain is still restricted by location factors, some measures affect the enthusiasm of floodplain residents to invest in the development of emerging industries. After the implementation of the major national strategy for the Yellow River in 2019, the country issued a series of relevant policies to support the ecological protection of the Yellow River Basin. While significantly protecting the ecological environment of the basin, it also influenced young talents in the beach area to start their own businesses. The lack of relevant policy support has slowed down the overall process of most villages in Dongying City seizing opportunities and obtaining information to a certain extent.
Due to the lack of long-term mechanisms and clear guidelines, the effects of village development are difficult to sustain. Existing loopholes and gaps in rural governance systems and rules makes it difficult to regulate some behaviors. The absence of specific implementation rules and operating procedures results in deviations in the implementation process, random and chaotic governance procedures, and low governance efficiency. Due to the lack of rule publicity and education, insufficient public understanding and recognition of the rules contributes to their awareness of compliance with the system and rules is weak. Over time, the orderly rural social atmosphere gradually developed into disorder, challenging the rural order, and the effectiveness of rural governance was difficult to sustain.
3. Gaojia Village, a Model of Dongying City’s Party Building Leading Rural Good Governance
Faced with the challenges of lack of emotional identification among the masses, broken relationship connection and slow action speed in rural society, it is necessary to achieve good rural governance through efforts in three aspects: emotional construction, relationship construction, and action construction. In this process, the leadership of Party building is crucial. As shown in Figure 1, this analytical framework clearly reveals the specific process of Party building leading good governance in rural areas. Based on this, Gaojia Village Party branch in Lijin County, Dongying City pays attention to managing the team with strict systems, mobilizing Party members with serious organizational life, and mobilizing the masses with a strict organizational system. It has explored a governance model that enhances emotional identification among villagers, strengthens the connection between the Party and the masses, and increases the speed of action under the leadership of Party building.
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Figure 1. An analytical framework for Party building to lead rural good governance.
3.1. Emotional Engine: The Mass Line Promotes the Formation of Consensus Among the Main Players
Good rural governance emphasizes the diversity of governance subjects, practices the CPC’s mass line, and builds consensus on the interests of multiple subjects, which is crucial for achieving good rural governance. Only the correct leadership of Party organizations, the leading demonstration of Party members, and the extensive participation of villagers can jointly promote the modernization of the rural governance system and governance capacity. This process relies not only on meeting substantial interests but also on fostering emotional identification and shared values. Such deep emotional connection and value identification provide solid support for the sustainable development of the village.
1) The Branch Playing the Role of a Fortress and Building a Solid Position
Gaojia Village is dedicated to enhancing its Party branch and selecting capable leaders to ensure grassroots Party organizations function effectively as a fighting fortress. Gaojia Village selects outstanding talents with both ability and political integrity from returning college students and elite groups to participate in rural governance, improves the combat effectiveness of the village’s “two committees (village Party branch committee and village committee)”, and makes them the backbone of promoting good rural governance. At the same time, based on local resource endowments, development goals, industrial development trends and other conditions, they carried out cross-village joint construction with four neighboring villages. Under the leadership of the Beisong Town industrial development Party branch, they continued to explore the pattern of alternating complementarity and common development of rural industries in the Yellow River floodplain, and achieve a deep integration of village affairs and villagers’ interests, and promote complementary advantages and resource sharing among jointly built villages. “At present, 14 cross-village Party branches have been established across 72 villages in our Beisong Town. Our branches located in close proximity and with similar resources can unite to share strengths, advance together, and lead the people to a better life.”
In addition, Gaojia Village has thoroughly implemented the grid and quantitative points management model for Party members, and established a micro-grid service management model with “grid Party branch secretary - Party building instructor - full-time grid worker - Party member street chief - mass volunteers - local talents” as the main force. “The street I’m responsible for is called ‘Funing Street’, which means happiness and peace! Those of us who don’t work usually have nothing to do at home, can go out to serve the people and solve their problems.” This model positions the Party branch at the core of governance, actively engaging Party members who are enthusiastic about serving the masses and having high prestige in addressing critical issues such as relocation and land transfer, compensation for land occupation and uprooting of crops, effectively resolves conflicts and stabilizes people’s hearts.
2) Party Members Setting an Example and Spreading Their Faith
Under the “micro-grid” model, Party members serve as the backbone of governance. Party members in Gaojia Village actively embody their identities, responsibilities, and commitments, and establish a pioneering image. The Party members of Gaojia Village have taken the lead in building a good living environment and creating beautiful courtyards in the village, creating a positive atmosphere of learning from the advanced, advocating the advanced, and competing to be advanced. “The street chiefs in our village are all village Party members, a total of 12, all women, are affectionately dubbed the ‘Twelve Golden Flowers’. Their main responsibilities include supervision, service and publicity. While serving the masses, they efficiently communicate superior policies and gather feedback from villagers, which is then discussed at committee meetings.” The “micro-grid management model” adheres to the working principle of “Small matters do not leave the streets, and big matters do not leave the village.” insisting on coming from the masses, going to the masses, and solving the urgent problems of the masses.
The Party branch of Gaojia Village regularly revises the village rules and regulations, requiring Party members take the lead in complying with requirements such as new ways of celebrating happy events and helping the poor, incorporating them into the points management system and linking them with the evaluation of advanced and outstanding people. Party members set an example and motivate a large number of people to comply. “In the past, villagers always competed with each other at weddings and funerals, and conflicts often occurred between clans and neighbors. In response to this, Party members set a precedent for moderation, breaking bad habits and establishing new practices. Now, gifts for weddings do not exceed 200 yuan, and funerals are shortened to two days. This has curbed bad practices and reduced the burden on villagers.” On the other hand, Party members make use of their advantages of being familiar with people, places and situations to enhance communication between the Party and the masses, helping to solve life problems by widely participating in “volunteer posts” and “service posts”, and integrate with the villagers.
3) Villagers Carrying Out Emotional Mobilization and Gathering Strength
Gaojia Village has actively transformed and upgraded the village environment and infrastructure, which has given villagers peace of mind. The villagers’ vital interests are guaranteed and their sense of identity has been greatly enhanced. In 2017, Gaojia Village raised 374,200 yuan to build more than 3000 meters of standard sewers to solve the problem of poor drainage in the village; replaced 29 street lights to improve the village’s night lighting conditions; renovated 5200 square meters of house floors to improve the living environment of villagers; and comprehensively renovated the village’s cultural courtyard and office space to enhance the overall image of the village. “We live in such a bright homes, and the village is clean. Everyone is happy and eager to contribute to maintaining the village.”
Gaojia Village gives full play to the initiative of villagers, improves their participation, and builds a bridge between the Party and the masses. By carrying out selection activities such as “Excellent Villagers”, “Advanced Individuals”, and “Five Good Families”, establishing and commending advanced models, encouraging villagers to consciously participate in governance, and supporting good village style with good family style. “During the Spring Festival, we will hold a beautiful courtyard creation event. The successful family can receive a large red lantern bearing the logo of ‘Gaojiatai’. It is not only an honor, but also can inspire other villagers to create their own beautiful courtyards.” In addition, Gaojia Village actively creates an open space for evaluation and discussion, encouraging villagers to give opinions and feedback on major issues in the village through the “Talk Gallery”, effectively shortening the distance between the branch and the masses, and enhancing the sense of participation of villagers while ensuring the smooth flow of information.
3.2. Relationship Adjustment: Democratic Centralism Promoting the Reshaping of Governance Networks
Good rural governance focuses on democracy in the governance processes, which coincides with the CPC’s principle of democratic centralism. Gaojia Village encourages villagers to participate in governance by improving organizational construction, and closely connects villagers by building diversified platforms and establishing various rural organizations and associations, thereby enhancing trust and cooperation among villagers, building harmonious rural relations, and reshaping strong social network.
1) Vertically Refining Governance Units and Mobilizing the Strength of the Party and the Masses
Gaojia Village prioritizes Party building as the foundation for constructing “micro-grid” that maximize grassroots governance efficiency. On the basis of the original grid, the governance units are refined, following the principles of “proximity, familiarity, convenience” and physical boundaries, ensuring that each micro-grid has clear boundaries and a moderate population size, making governance more accurate and efficient. “Micro-grid shortens the micro distance between the branch and the masses, facilitates information flow, and resolves many conflicts.” Gaojia Village encourages Party members and Party organization leaders to go deep into micro-grid, assume multiple governance responsibilities such as social security, comprehensive management and social assistance, actively respond to villagers’ needs, strengthen interaction between the Party and the masses, and consolidate the joint efforts of the Party and the masses. “I am a poor household with difficulty walking, so the grid workers come to clean my yard and room regularly. They come to give me benefits and goods during the holidays, and I am grateful to them from the bottom of my heart.” In addition, Gaojia Village widely mobilizes villagers to actively participate in micro-grid governance, creating a strong atmosphere of participation, co-construction and co-governance by everyone.
2) Building Horizontal Platforms for Discussion to Strengthen the Connection Between the Party and the Masses
The “micro-grid” cleverly interconnects every street, household, and villager, forming an unbreakable social network.
Only by discussing matters frequently and having more consultations can village governance become more lively and social relations become closer. The Gaojia Village Party branch took the lead in establishing three deliberative systems to ensure democratic participation and effective decision-making in the governance process. Firstly, the branch discusses and resolves major issues. On the monthly theme day, the branch listens to reports from the heads of various organizations, discusses and promptly resolves issues involving the interests of all villagers, and ensures that decisions are fair and timely. Secondly, discuss things at the street level to resolve trivial matters. The village has built a “talking gallery” where the street chiefs gather neighbors and regularly hold “talking and chatting” to settle trivial matters in the streets. Thirdly, use professional power to mediate difficult matters, organize grid workers, conflict mediators, and contracted lawyers to form a legal advisory group to provide legal services and mediate conflicts and disputes. “Our new team has achieved ‘zero petitions’ and ‘zero police reports’ for five consecutive years since its establishment. The standard we require is that conflicts at the grassroots level are resolved at the grassroots level.”
In addition, Gaojia Village actively builds a discussion platform with the masses at the core, and organizes multifunctional teams such as “Street Service Team”, “Village Sage Discussion Team”, and “Sunset Love Team” to highlight the subjectivity of the masses. Focusing on small-scale issues that are closely related to the interests of the masses, and effectively solve major issues related to people’s livelihood through refined topic selection. Widely involve villagers in participation and supervision to ensure fairness and justice in deliberation activities.
3.3. Action Guarantee: Rule Constraints Driving Governance
Actions
Good rural governance focuses on the sustainability and shareability of governance results. Gaojia Village gives full play to the role of grassroots Party organizations in the formulation and implementation of rules and constraints, and pays close attention to the institutionalization and standardization of village-level governance. Relying on specific and clear governance rules, it constrains the behavior of the main body and maintains the harmony and stability of rural society.
1) Improving the Working Mechanism of “Party Leadership - Mass Participation - Joint Supervision”
The Party branch of Gaojia Village continues to improve the integrated working mechanism of self-governance, legal governance and moral governance under the leadership of Party building. It takes self-governance as the basis, legal governance as the guarantee, moral governance as the guide, and intelligent governance as the support, and actively carries out the construction of rural governance carriers led by Party building, namely “one agreement, two groups, and three meetings”. By improving village rules and regulations, giving full play to the role of “the two groups, and three meetings” of the street service group, legal advisory group, street meeting, village elders’ meetings, and performance appraisal meeting, by encouraging villagers to speak out and have candid discussions on people’s concerns to stimulate the vitality of villagers’ self-governance, enhance the “endogenous power” of social governance, and achieve “Working together on major issues, everyone judges what is good and bad, and someone is in charge of everything,” and jointly maintain rural order through law and morality. “We used to be confused about the law, but now, thanks to the legal advisory group, we understand that we should act according to the law.”
At the same time, Gaojia Village pays attention to mobilizing the masses with a strict organizational system. In accordance with the unified deployment of the city and county, it has established 16 village-level organizations of 8 categories. The responsible persons report to the branch every month and accept comments from the masses. Various organizations work together for the village, and all kinds of talents have a stage to work. In addition, Gaojia Village closely integrates rural governance with the daily lives of villagers, and reflects the village environment, villagers’ deliberation mechanism and other contents into the village rules and regulations, allowing villagers to participate in the formulation and supervision to ensure effective participation of villagers, thereby standardizing villagers’ behavior and improving villagers’ recognition and understanding of governance results.
2) Improving the Rule System of “System Procedure-Common Compliance”
The Party branch of Gaojia Village pays attention to managing the team with strict systems. The committee hold morning meetings every day, work together on Mondays, and hold concentrated meetings every month. They discuss both major and minor issues together, reach consensus, and then move forward. Five working groups were set up, including industrial development and conflict mediation, with members of the “two committees” as group leaders. Everyone has their own responsibilities and shoulders the burden together. Establish clear rules for performing duties, and the Village Affairs Supervision Committee must attend village meetings. The cadres of the “two committees” and their immediate relatives are not allowed to interfere in village projects. At the same time, they formulated the “self-discipline convention” and “ten leading roles of Party members” management measures for Party members. Whenever a key project is implemented, they organize Party members to sign a “Three Firsts” commitment letter to learn policies first, resolve contradictions first, and take the lead in setting an example. “We have always put the people first in our work and never compete with them for profit. The various projects in our village have a total of more than 30 million yuan, but we require the members of the village committee not to do any of the projects. We just want to serve the people well and do practical things for them.”
To ensure transparency in rule-making, Gaojia Village has established a corresponding feedback mechanism to enhance grassroots information collection capabilities and ensure that villagers can effectively provide feedback on their personal opinions. Gaojia Village makes full use of the “digital empowerment, strong village and good governance” platform to carry out “smart village” innovation and develop systems such as “smart approval and stamping” and “three public affairs online disclosure”. With the help of the “cloud”, villagers can check the “three public affairs disclosure” at home through their mobile phones and televisions, thereby strengthening the implementation of rules, strictly supervising and inspecting, and guiding villagers to abide by them consciously. In addition, Gaojia Village actively promotes legal literacy through new media channels, such as WeChat public accounts and Douyin to enhance villagers’ legal awareness, and regularly plays legal publicity videos in the village’s cultural corridor to create a rural governance atmosphere of “everyone participates, everyone is responsible.”
4. Conclusion
Good governance in rural areas is a multidimensional and systematic project with the characteristics of multiple subjects, democratic process and sustainable results, which coincides with the goal of Party building. During the emotional construction phase, the mass line is used to promote the formation of subject consensus and the effective participation of multiple subjects. In the relationship construction phase, democratic centralism is used to promote the reshaping of the governance network. In the action construction phase, rule constraints are used to drive the generation of governance actions. Specifically, Party building work runs through the entire process of good governance in rural areas. Through the Emotional engine, we aggregate the powerful forces of grassroots Party organizations, Party members and advanced villagers to build a diversified participation pattern. Through relationship adjustment, we vertically refine the governance systems, establish governance platforms horizontally, strengthen the connection between the Party and the masses, thereby forming a close relationship network. Through action guarantee, we improve the working mechanism of “Party leadership-mass participation-joint supervision” and refine the rule system of “system-procedure-common compliance”. Only by taking the emotional engine as the direction, relationship adjustment as the key, and action guarantee as the foundation can we collaboratively advance the realization of good rural governance and promote the sustainable development of rural areas.
As the most basic governance unit, the quality of rural governance not only determines the development, prosperity and stability of rural society, but also reflects the overall level of national governance. In the process of rural construction, Party building plays a vital role. In the process of deepening rural construction practice, it is necessary to strengthen the following aspects further based on emotional engine, relationship adjustment and action guarantee: First, strengthening team training. We should continuously optimize and expand the grassroots Party organization team, carry out a series of education and training projects with diverse forms and rich connotations, focus on key areas such as advanced ideas, rural revitalization and grassroots governance, comprehensively improve the professional quality and practical ability of grassroots Party members and cadres, and further play the role of Party members in guiding values. Second, broadening the channels for participation. The effectiveness of rural governance depends on the extensive participation of all sectors of society and the effective integration of resources. We are supposed to build an open and inclusive governance system, absorb diversified governance forces including enterprises, social organizations and other groups. Making full use of various social resources, forming a good situation of complementary advantages and coordinated progress, and enhancing the effective participation of social groups in grassroots governance. Weaving a dense network of good governance in rural areas, and deepening diversified governance under the leadership of Party building. Third, focusing on the operation and maintenance of the platform. The establishment of a democratic governance platform is an important measure to achieve good governance in rural areas. However, the innovative construction of democratic deliberation platforms such as the “Talk Gallery” is only the starting point, and subsequent operation and maintenance are equally crucial. It is necessary to ensure that long-term and stable operation of the platform, continue to play its role as a bridge and link for expressing public opinion, fully guarantee the smooth transmission of the voice of the masses, and continuously enhance the effectiveness of democratic governance under the leadership of Party building.
Guided by the theory of good governance, this paper focuses on the practices of Dongying City in promoting rural governance under the leadership of Party building, and finds that there are problems in three aspects: emotional identification, relationship connection and action speed. In view of this, this paper takes the governance practices of Gaojia Village in Lijin County, Dongying City as a sample to analyze the specific processes of emotional construction, relationship construction and action construction through the effective use of the working line and working methods of the CPC. It explains the actual role of the leadership of the CPC in rural governance, uncovers the underlying logic for addressing rural development challenges via good governance, and distills approaches for achieving good rural governance under the leadership of the CPC. The findings bear significant implications for enhancing grassroots governance and fostering good governance practices in rural contexts.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge National Natural Foundation of China(42007411); 2024 National Study Abroad Fund Committee Public Study Abroad Program (Project No.202408370151); 2021 Shandong Province Higher Education Young Team Project (Project No.2021122812). We also thank Public Administration College of Shandong Agricultural University for their support.