To soothe rural anger over corruption, villagers will be able to scrutinise the performance of officials
Rural villagers will be given more power to keep an eye on their local governments as Beijing moves to calm simmering public anger over rampant corruption.
In a groundbreaking initiative to be announced soon, villages will be required to set up finance management committees to monitor how public funds are spent.
The role of existing village representative assemblies - which are formed by villagers to check the powers of local leaders - will also be strengthened.
Officials and academic sources said the changes aimed to curb the abuse of power by the elected village chiefs.
Complaints range from corruption, nepotism and land seizures to extortion and a lack of transparency in public finances.