Ma Yonghong, 25, exudes a shrewdness and maturity inconsistent with his age. Scarred by two unsuccessful attempts to shake up local politics in his mountain hometown in Shaanxi, he still harbored ambitions to impact rural agriculture and leadership there.

After losing a 2005 election for the village chairmanship, Ma devoted four years to improving local education, and founding a farmers’ association in his hometown village of Hexing.

These formative experiences fostered a perception of Ma among other volunteers as a revolutionary in the Maoist mold, devoted to rural issues. “Have you ever seen the television series, Youth of Dream? Had I been born in that time, I would have been the first revolutionary to stand up,” he said. Volunteers have also drawn comparisons of him to Che Guevara.

But despite ramping up his grass-roots involvement and refining his campaign tactics, he lost a second run for village chair in 2008, against the incumbent He Gang.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ma Yonghong, rural elections, rural reform
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I don’t want to say too much, after all Lu Banglie is just a small person in China. But he is also the true backbone of China…. I know, as someone who is known to the outside world as a “rights defender” (weiquan renshi), my fellow Hubei native Lu Banglie, working as an independent “reporter,” helped his British colleague from The Guardian newspaper in an effort to do his part to help build up China’s grassroots democracy. In his eyes, all events relating to grassroots organizing, no matter where they are, in Guangdong or in Hubei, should fall within the scope of his “concern” and “research.” He thought that to bring a British reporter into the village was not a betrayal of China, which is why he was so insistent and perseverant. Probably, in his subconscious, he was proud to be a guide for a British reporter. At least, among his numerous efforts and struggles, this is one time that could be immediately realized (reported).

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Read the rest of Chinese journalist blogs about missing democracy activist (2 words)

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2005. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: rural elections, Taishi
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