Museum of Modern PB

Curated · researched from public sources

Chengdu Village Public Service Funds

Running PB curator · Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 2009 · version 1, published 12 October 2026

Sources · 13 documents ↓

Makes a detached copy in your own canvas. Nothing links back.

Versions

v1 · 12 October 2026 · curator

The goal of the Chengdu village public service and social management funds is to give every rural village a guaranteed annual budget, booked in the municipal and county budgets, whose use villagers decide, supervise and appraise through an elected deliberative council, so that rural public services catch up with the city's, village self-government has money to act on, and grievances are settled inside the village before they become petitions.

Equity · Convener-stated · Lived

Self-determination · Convener-stated · Lived

Transparency · Convener-stated · Lived

7 values Maker’s note

Partners and Roles

Municipal Party Committee and Government · Convener · Public

Municipal and county finance bureaus · Fiscal sponsor · Public

Township governments · Decision-maker · Public

Village party branch · Facilitator · Public

Village deliberative council · Decision-maker · Community-based organization

Village committee · Outreach · Community-based organization

14 partners Maker’s note

Priority Audiences

Specific neighborhoods or geographies of need · Equity · Exclusive eligibility

1 audience Maker’s note

200,000 yuan per village (2009) to 400,000 to 800,000 (2018) · Public (tax-funded) · Can be used for capital, Can be used for programmatic

Loans up to 7 times the fund, 8-year term · Public (tax-funded) · Can be used for capital

About US$ 2 per urban resident a year (2018) · Public (tax-funded) · Multiple pots

3 pots Maker’s note

Authority and Mandate

Executive · Formal · Binding

1 authority Maker’s note

Idea collection · Process · Per cycle

Proposal development · Process · Per cycle

Deliberation · Process · Per cycle

Voting or deciding · Process · Per cycle

Township ratification · Process · Per cycle

Public notice of decisions and accounts · Process · Per cycle

Implementation oversight · Process · Per cycle

Cycle debrief · Process · Per cycle

Expense reimbursement and audit · Process · Per cycle

Advocacy and resource development · System · Episodic

15 activities Maker’s note

Villagers' appraisal and rectification step · Participants themselves · Every cycle

Oversight group acceptance before payment · Participants themselves · Every cycle

Township and county review and discipline inspection · Internal team · Every cycle

6 evaluations Maker’s note

Rural villages and rural communities · Village · Administrative

Urban communities (from late 2013) · Neighborhood · Administrative

349 communities in the 2021 experiment · Neighborhood · Administrative

3 geographies Maker’s note

Engagement Channels

Household questionnaire collected door to door · Door-to-door · One-on-one

Village deliberative council meetings · In-person events · In-person group

Village sub-group councils · In-person events · In-person group

6 channels Maker’s note

Annual fund transfers, municipal and county · Direct money · Societal, Organizational

Interest subsidy on village loans · Direct money · Organizational

Unpaid council and oversight time · Volunteer and community time · Individual, Community

9 costs Maker’s note

Nearly 40,000 projects 2009 to 2012, over 100,000 by 2018 · Material or project outcome · Positive

67% of money to infrastructure (2009 to 2011) · Material or project outcome · Positive

Less rent-seeking in fund allocation · Behavior or practice change · Positive

13 effects Maker’s note

Guest book

Every note on this piece, including notes left on single nodes.

C

curator curator Sources · 13 documents · 12 October 2026

Read for this piece: Ming Zhuang, Participatory Budgeting, Rural Public Services and Pilot Local Democracy Reform (Field Actions Science Reports, 2014); Yves Cabannes with Zhuang Ming, Jing Ping and Min Chen, Highlights on some Asian and Russian participatory budgeting pioneers (UCL DPU, UCLG and IOPD, 2018), Chengdu chapter and comparative sections; Yves Cabannes, Experiencias pioneras de presupuestos participativos en Asia y Rusia (OIDP, 2020), Chengdu passages only; Emilie Frenkiel and Stephanie Tawa Lama-Rewal, The Redistribution of Representation through Participation: Participatory Budgeting in Chengdu and Delhi (Politics and Governance, 2019); Sherry Jueyu Wu, Ke Michael Mai, Ming Zhuang and Fangxin Yi, A large-scale field experiment on participatory decision-making in China (Nature Human Behaviour, 2024) and its HKUST Public Policy Bulletin summary (2025); Chen Yiyuan, analysis of the involution of state resource input based on the administrative absorption of self-government in Chengdu's village public funds (Journal of Beijing University of Technology, 2020); Jiang Xiaoping and Huang Jing, Returning rights and empowering: the Chengdu experience of governance transition (Journal of Public Administration, 2011); He Xuefeng and Gui Hua, The nature of rural public goods and distributive mobilisation (Open Times, 2022, via aisixiang); Wang Haijuan, Paths and mechanisms for resolving the last mile problem (via aisixiang, fieldwork 2012); Chen Hongtai, The Chengdu experience of grassroots democracy (2012, via aisixiang); Yin Hongwei's interview with executive vice-mayor Sun Ping (Nanfengchuang, 2010, via aisixiang); and the China chapter paragraph on page 125 of the Participatory Budgeting World Atlas 2019 (Dias, Enriquez and Julio, eds.). The 2011 Chengdu Daily piece and the People Powered profile had no text in the reading room and are not used.

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