Nesting and Bureaucratic Authority

A widespread network of offices and enterprises owned and operated by the county government, but "nested" within the county-towns or township seats, increases the county's influence. These subbureaus or enterprises—

such as mines, forests, factories, or shops—support county-government interests when they conflict with those of the town. County-owned enterprises resist the county-towns' request for "contributions" to development funds in ways factories owned by county-towns cannot. In the cases to follow, local development efforts were undermined by the nested county bureaucracy.

In Tongli town, a county-town in Wujiang county, the county grain bureau wanted to construct two residential buildings for its staff in an area not designated as residential in the town's plan. After several months of wrangling, the town had to concede to county administrators, and the housing construction was allowed (Fei 1986, 338). Similarly, a running-water and drainage pipeline, built by Dongliu town, Dongzhi county, Anhui province, "crossed the doorway of the dormitory for the county's transportation station workers; the workers did not agree, so there was no choice but to halt the project" (Bai, Song, and Tang 1987, 57). We do not know the content of the negotiations process, but in both cases the issue was not one of political equality or negotiations among equals; rather, decisions were made in favor of the more powerful county administration.

County domination harmed development in the pre-1984 county-towns, which have been the clearest losers in the hierarchy of towns. Factories in those towns were often owned by the county government; yet, while they used local facilities and resources, the county invested little in the towns. Jobs in them were allocated by the County Labor Bureau, so county-town youths did not necessarily receive first access. County businesses such as supply and marketing co-ops in these towns were nominally led by both the county-government departments and the county-town administrators, but "they accept only the leadership of departments and ignore town leadership"; thus in 1986 county-towns that are not county seats experience the sharpest conflicts within the current administrative system (Fei 1986, 85). As county employees these nested county administrators respond to the hierarchical system (tiao-tiao ) rather than local (kuai-kuai ) leaders.

In Jiangpu county these county-towns developed poorly before 1979 (Jiangpu 1982, 139). Of the proportion of people living in all towns in the county, the proportion living in the county-towns, compared with the county seat and commune or market towns, decreased from 24.9 to 10.5 percent from 1953 to 1979, while the increase in these towns' actual population over twenty-six years was almost minimal (table 12.1). Unlike commune towns, which became the sites for commune or township enterprises, as well as of centers of political administration, these county-towns developed little industry and few administrative jobs, hence their limited population growth. Data from other parts of Jiangsu from 1984

show why these towns declined. Within the older county-towns, the indigenous government owns the smallest percentage of enterprises (in output value terms) at 12.91 percent, almost 8 percent less than governments from surrounding townships and 33 percent less than the county government (see table 12.2). With little outside investment, such county-town governments have a weak tax base and little income for investment, making the county's authority dominant.

To resolve the nesting problem, county-run factories outside the county seat are expected to shift to the control of county-town governments (Zhao and Zhang 1986, 324). And nested officials in some towns and townships are to come under greater horizontal administrative (kuaikuai ) control, as county-town governments are empowered to hire, fire, transfer, reward, and penalize them (ZGNCJJ 1987a). But the nesting problem will persist. First, directors of these nested organizations will remain outside county-town and township control. Second, not only are county factories in some locations not shifting to county-town control, but some county officials are taking over lucrative former township factories after these newly designated towns come under their control.^[27] Finally, because county seats have many county-government offices within them, county-government control over town development is imperative. County-level organizations in the county seat will not obey the county-seat government, which has no authority over them. Only a development committee of the county government has the authority to compel these county organizations to contribute to development projects in the county seat.

County officials have long been the most powerful institutional actors directing local development. And although market forces are decreasing the county's control over some aspects of the rural political economy,

patterns of authority established through forty years of economic planning continue to play a major role. In fact, as townships become county-towns, the county's formal right to dictate their development pattern increases. No doubt wealthy towns are more independent, and their ability to invest in their own future may expand under the "finance responsibility system." But for county-towns seeking to improve their urban infrastructure, county controls embodied in the labeling, nesting, and planning processes remain significant factors in their day-to-day existence.