Introduction: Historical reflections on grassroots political reform in China /Elizabeth J. Perry and Merle Goldman -- Village elections, transparency, and anticorruption : Henan and Guangdong provinces / Richard Levy -- The implementation of village elections and tax-for-fee reform in rural northwest China / John James Kennedy -- Fiscal crisis in China's townships : causes and consequences / Jean C. Oi and Zhao Shukai -- Direct township elections / Lianjiang Li -- The struggle for village public goods provision : informal institutions of accountability in rural China / Lily L. Tsai -- Inadvertent political reform via private associations : assessing homeowners' groups in new neighborhoods / Benjamin L. Read -- Civil resistance and rule of law in China : the defense of homeowners' rights / Yongshun Cai -- "Hope for protection and hopeless choices" : labor legal aid in the PRC / Mary E. Gallagher -- Is labor a political force in China? / Ching Kwan Lee -- Between defiance and obedience : protest opportunism in China / Xi Chen -- In search of the grassroots : hydroelectric politics in northwest Yunnan / Ralph Litzinger -- Public opinion supervision : possibilities and limits of the media in constraining local officials / Yuezhi Zhao and Sun Wusan.