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Essay on "Fanshen" by William Hinton
Fanshen is a story which reveals the potential of rural communities to transform their lives in ways which introduce new economic and technological possibilities and improve the livelihood of everyone. But it is also a story which reveals a pattern of the uses and frequently abuses of state power at the expense of the peasantry. If we read him correctly, Hinton implies certain continuity between the imperial state and the party-state with respect to the position allocated to the peasantry: "In the real order that determines priorities in China," he concludes, "peasants occupy the lowest rung, just as they always have historically."
We see the immense power of the socialist state as a two-edged sword. To take a single example, one of the levers of party-state control in China is the authority to regulate population movement. Looked at in its most favorable light, this facilitates the ability of the socialist state to prevent the blind flood of population out of the countryside into the cities, where it could form the slums characteristic of capitalist third world countries or absorb resources the state must set aside for capital construction.
In China, however, this controlled movement also means, among other things, that peasants cannot leave their native villages in search of work else- where (the poorer the region and village, the more onerous the burden); permanent movement from poorer mountainous districts to more prosperous regions as well as movement to the cities is barred; even temporary movements are officially controlled. A worker or peasant who wishes to travel by train or plane to another region or city requires written approval, obtained of course from the local administrative office. The power of the state, in short, extends to virtually every aspect of Chinese life, creating vast potential for the abuse of power. It was above all during the Cultural Revolution, moreover.....
