China is a large agricultural country, with rural residents accounting for 62% of its total population. For nearly 30 years after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, the grass-roots organizations in rural China were the township-based collective economic organizations combined with the grass-roots organs of state power, and the production teams based on villages were the basic accounting units. After 1978, when the rural economic reform was started, the grass-roots organs of state power were separated from the people's communes, and villagers' committees were established throughout the country, which turned the former collective economic organizations into grass-roots institutions of selfgovernance by villagers. The Constitution promulgated in 1982 provides the nature, tasks and roles of villagers' committees in rural
areas. In November 1987 the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted the Organic Law on Villagers' Committees (For Trial Use), and the trial law was revised and enacted in November 1998. As a result, grass-roots self-governance in China's rural areas has gradually moved forward on a sound track.

In accordance with the Constitution and the Organic Law on Villagers' Committees, such committees are established on the basis of the place of residence and the principle of facilitating selfgovernance by the masses. A villagers' committee is usually based on a natural village, which is of a proper size and population. A large village may have several villagers' committees, and several small villages may share one villagers' committee. The committee is composed of chairman, vice-chairman (vice-chairmen) and three to seven other members, who are elected directly by villagers for a term of three years, and may serve consecutive terms if re-elected. The villagers' committee establishes committees for people's mediation, public security, public health and other matters, and under the villagers' committee are villager' groups. The major tasks of a villagers' committee include: (1) handling public affairs and welfare undertakings of the village; (2) mediating civil disputes in the area; (3) helping to maintain public order; (4) conveying villagers' opinions, demands and suggestions to the government; (5) assisting the township government in its work, managing the local economy, and carrying out tasks pertaining to civil affairs, militia, and family planning; (6) promoting cultural and ethical progress. The villagers' committee follows the principles of democratic centralism and the minority subordinating to the majority, it is responsible to and reports its work to the villagers' conference, and matters concerning the villagers are decided by the villagers as a whole.

Although the villagers' committees were set up not long ago, they have exhibited their important roles. The first is self-management. The villagers get organized by electing their own representatives to restrain themselves and manage their own affairs. The villagers exercise self-management through persuasion and education, mutual help, exemplary roles, and supervision by the masses themselves. Through discussions the villagers formulate their own rules and regulations for self-governance in the village at plenary meetings, which are observed by all villagers and keep the peace. The second is self-education. The villagers both offer and receive education. By exercising their rights to vote and to be elected, participating in villagers' meetings and supervising the work of the villagers' committee, the villagers get educated in the legal system and moral standards. By developing cultural and educational undertakings, extension of scientific knowledge, transforming social traditions and eradicating superstitions, villagers improve their own cultural attainments. The third is self-service. This includes conducting public affairs and welfare undertakings, such as building bridges and paving roads, running nurseries and homes for the aged, and developing educational, public health and cultural and entertainment activities.
Self-service also includes providing services for agricultural production, including planting, irrigation, plant protection, harvesting, and marketing. Self-management, self-education and selfservice is of great significance to improving democratic selfgovernance in rural areas, expanding direct socialist democracy, arousing the initiative of the masses, and promoting democratic politics in China.

In recent years self-governance in rural areas has made remarkable progress: the election of villagers' committees is well organized, the democratic rights of masses are safeguarded and respected, and the quality of members of the villagers' committees is improved. In rural areas, farmers attach great importance to the election of villagers' committees. To ensure that the nomination of candidates is legal, fair and open, every villager with the right to vote and to be elected can nominate others and be nominated. In the elections in past few years, pre-elections were held in some places to determine the formal candidates either by all voting villagers or by their representatives. Practices have proved that these new methods have made the elections more democratic and transparent, and a large number of young and energetic farmers who are capable of business and management and enjoy the support of voters have been elected to the villagers' committees.

In the future, China will continue to enhance the institutions of self-governance in rural areas. The first is democratic election. The chairman, vice-chairman (vice-chairmen) and members of the villagers' committee must be democratically elected, and never be appointed by any organization or individual. The candidates must be directly nominated by voting villagers, and competitive elections with secret balloting and open vote counting must be held to ensure the elections are fair and open. The second is democratic decision-making. All matters related to the interests of villagers must go through deliberation by the villagers, and decisions on them must be made in accordance with the opinions of the majority. The third is democratic management. Village rules and regulations are to be made in accordance with the C o n s t i t u t i o n , l a w s , regulations and state policies as well as in the light of local conditions. In the management of village affairs, the villagers' committees must be fully democratic, listen to the opinions of villagers especially those who may differ, persist in persuasion, and never resort to coercion or vindictive measures. The fourth is democratic supervision. The villagers exercise democratic supervision over the work of the villagers' committee and village affairs. The villagers hold annual meetings to review the work report of the villagers' committee, and evaluate the work performance of its members. Make village affairs public. The villagers' committee should make public the affairs that should be decided on by villagers' meetings, especially those concerning the villagers' interests, and accept supervision by the villagers.