Why did you mention the country sage again?

Times have changed, and now he is a good man in Xinxiang.

A fellow villager is defined as a person whose morality and talents are respected by his fellow villagers.

The word "country sage" began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is an honorary title that the state officials who have done something, or social sages with high prestige and great contributions to society, give recognition after their death. It is an affirmation of the life value of those who enjoy this title. To the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were Xiangxian shrines in all counties, which were dedicated to Xiangxian figures of past dynasties.

So a complete set of official memorial and memorial ceremonies was formed. Generally speaking, it refers to the big chief. During the war, rural sages need to fight in the front line to fight for the people's chances of survival.

As the cornerstone of feudal China, the squire, that is, the squire, once assumed the management function at the grass-roots level in the era of "imperial power did not leave the county". The "dock fort" in the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the "Yimen" in the Southern and Northern Dynasties are all external forms of grass-roots organizations of rural sages.

The debate on the path, role and function of "Xinxiang Xian" participating in village governance shows that the academic circles have not yet reached an agreement on the boundary between "Xinxiang Xian" and grass-roots political power, and between village "two committees" and villagers.

In addition, the academic circles did not distinguish whether the "Xinxiang Xian" participated in village governance in an individual capacity or in an organizational form, thus questioning the legitimacy and necessity of the "Xinxiang Xian" organization. The above arguments and doubts reflect that the governance of Xinxiang County is facing "embarrassment". Mills pointed out that only by putting personal life and social history together can people really understand these "embarrassments".

On the one hand, it affirms the governance of Xinxiang County at the policy level, and tries to learn from the traditional governance experience of "squire". As some scholars have pointed out, the legacy of traditional "squire" governance is reflected in the active political participation of grassroots elites, non-governmental organizations and other non-governmental forces in contemporary China politics.

On the other hand, the governance of "Xinxiang County" is questioned because it has tension with the current system of "township government and village governance".

Giving full play to "sociological imagination" can link the governance of "Xinxiang County" with the traditional governance of "squire" and "dual-track politics". Fei Xiaotong pointed out in The Gentleman of China: "Local affairs are under the jurisdiction of the gentlemen in the community, and it is difficult for the central government to interfere."

At the same time, he pointed out that "gentleman" is the key to the formation of "dual-track politics", which is the basis of good governance in rural areas. However, since modern times, the "squire" has gradually withdrawn from the field of rural governance, especially during the agrarian revolution. "All the rights of gentry must be overthrown, and gentlemen must fight underground, even with their feet."

(1) Thus, the traditional "dual-track politics" ended in the land reform led by China.

With the disintegration of people's communes and the birth of villagers' autonomy, the study of "dual-track politics" has re-entered the academic field of vision. Dissatisfied with the phenomenon of "double track" in form and "single track" in essence in "village governance", scholars believe that we can build a substantive "double track politics" by cultivating rural social organizations such as "village construction associations" and "new village associations".

However, scholars rarely bring the "township constitutional association" into the vision of "dual-track politics". Yuan Chao studied the "Association of Rural Sages" from the perspective of prasenjit duara's "Brokerage Model", and thought that the "Association of Rural Sages" promoted a new "Brokerage Mechanism" and realized mutual trust and resource sharing between society and the country in the rural areas.

(3) Although the "brokerage model" is related to "dual-track politics", the "brokerage model" tends to play the role of "Xinxiang Xian" in the construction of state power, and the relationship between the involvement of "Xinxiang Xian" in rural governance and the change of rural political structure has not been clearly explained.