Unpopular tasks may also be foisted on villages by townships that encounter
unexpected problems. For example, in order to develop the local economy, higherups
sometimes compel villages to supply raw materials to or buy products from local
enterprises. One committee director in Jiangxi explained how he felt ‘pressure from
both sides’: township authorities assigned him a high procurement
quota to prop up a bamboo ware plant that was desperately short of cash, but villagers
were unwilling to sell their bamboo unless they received timely and sufficient
payment. The director felt trapped and could not satisfy both the township and voters
who had elected him.
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