ported the advent of directly elected villager committees,hoping the system would promote stability and economic prosperity by allowing the people to choose leaders they trusted,by making those leaders directly accountable to their constituents,and by implementing a system of open village affairs,which emphasized financial disclo- sure on the part of the elected village leaders. Despite unevenness of implementation,the village open affairs and self-governance program was very popular among the people and higher-level officials where it was implemented well.By the late 199os,the"open village affairs"program was evolving into a broader "open government affairs"movement that was promoted in top-level Party and government policy documents.6 The adoption by the NPC in November 1998 of the permanent Organic Law on Villagers'Committees(the VC Law)?marked a sig- nificant advance in the institutionalization of more open governance at the village level.The VC Law requires directly elected villagers committees(VCs)to implement the"four democracies":direct demo- cratic election of VC members,democratic decision making through the villager assemblies comprised of all eligible voters,democratic management by the VCs,and democratic supervision by the villag- ers under new systems of "openness in village affairs."VCs must publish financial information,in particular,at least once every six months and guarantee the truthfulness of the information disclosed, as well as respond to inquiries from the villagers.Villagers refer to this disclosure system as the"Sunshine Project." In a March 1999 speech on villager self-rule,a vice premier de- scribed a growing rural concept of a"right to information"tied to economic development:"Following the deepening of rural reform and development of the market economy,farmers'thinking,con- cepts,and value orientation have undergone profound changes.Their sense of democracy and their sense of participating in the manage ment of economic and social affairs have constantly increased.And more and more they want to have the right to information,dialogue, and decision-making.They long for direct participation in making decisions on major affairs in the village and the management of vil- lage affairs."9 Meanwhile,in the cities,urbanites were increasingly leaving the "iron rice bowl"of guaranteed employment by the government or state-owned enterprises and institutions,which had included em- TOWARD A MORE OPEN CHINA? 59 FLORINI CH02indd 59 3/2071:21:14PMtoward a more open china? 59 ported the advent of directly elected villager committees, hoping the system would promote stability and economic prosperity by allowing the people to choose leaders they trusted, by making those leaders directly accountable to their constituents, and by implementing a system of open village affairs, which emphasized financial disclo￾sure on the part of the elected village leaders. Despite unevenness of implementation, the village open affairs and self-governance program was very popular among the people and higher-level officials where it was implemented well. By the late 1990s, the “open village affairs” program was evolving into a broader “open government affairs” movement that was promoted in top-level Party and government policy documents.6 The adoption by the NPC in November 1998 of the permanent Organic Law on Villagers’ Committees (the VC Law)7 marked a sig￾nificant advance in the institutionalization of more open governance at the village level. The VC Law requires directly elected villagers’ committees (VCs) to implement the “four democracies”: direct demo￾cratic election of VC members, democratic decision making through the villager assemblies comprised of all eligible voters, democratic management by the VCs, and democratic supervision by the villag￾ers under new systems of “openness in village affairs.” VCs must publish financial information, in particular, at least once every six months and guarantee the truthfulness of the information disclosed, as well as respond to inquiries from the villagers. Villagers refer to this disclosure system as the “Sunshine Project.”8 In a March 1999 speech on villager self-rule, a vice premier de￾scribed a growing rural concept of a “right to information” tied to economic development: “Following the deepening of rural reform and development of the market economy, farmers’ thinking, con￾cepts, and value orientation have undergone profound changes. Their sense of democracy and their sense of participating in the manage￾ment of economic and social affairs have constantly increased. And more and more they want to have the right to information, dialogue, and decision-making. They long for direct participation in making decisions on major affairs in the village and the management of vil￾lage affairs.”9 Meanwhile, in the cities, urbanites were increasingly leaving the “iron rice bowl” of guaranteed employment by the government or state-owned enterprises and institutions, which had included em￾FLORINI CH 02.indd 59 3/2/07 1:21:14 PM