China’s Xi Jinping says Communist Party control too weak in rural areas, new book reveals

Chinese President Xi Jinping thinks the Communist Party’s control over rural areas is insufficient and threatens stability, according to a new book published on the mainland.

“There are some urgent problems in the countryside that need to be solved, such as the fact that grass-roots organisations are still weak and lax in some places,” Xi told a seminar of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, in March last year. His comments were disclosed in detail in the book published in late October.

In statements made public for the first time, Xi said that in China’s rural areas, “religious, ‘underworld forces’ and other organisations have grown and spread, and have even taken control of village affairs and caused harm” and that “in some places, people don’t care about village affairs”.

He also complained that in some villages, “cases of abduction and trafficking of women and children have occurred repeatedly” and that “moral standards have declined, integrity is not upheld, neighbourly relations are not harmonious, money worship and high ‘bride price’ are prevalent”.