Communal conventions are the sets of norms and standards, which Asian communities and administrative units follow and use as a successful tool of self-government. Communal conventions represent an effective link between the cultural and geographical specificity of rural territories and the laws and regulations created by the state. Communal conventions are a definitive feature of the administrative culture in East Asia (Doan 190), but the forms through which they operate are increasingly diverse. China had its first communal convention created long time ago the latter was called Huong toc and was represented by a set of conventions which the rural community in China had to observe (Doan 190). However, under the pressure of changeable trade and industrial practices, communal conventions in China gradually became obsolete and gave place to the regulations established by hamlets and guilds (Doan 190). The period between 1949 and the end of the Cultural Revolution in China was marked with the continuous transformation of the former guilds and hamlets into production brigades, and communal conventions in the form they had been accepted before went into oblivion. It was not before the end of the 1980s that China, for the second time in its history, came to recognize the relevance and significance of communal conventions as an effective tool of self-management and self-regulation (Doan 191). Today, communal conventions in China exemplify a unique form of integrating self-management with the basic principles of Chinese administrative culture communal conventions represent a regulatory framework for all rural communitys activities they are based on the peoples council, state policies and laws, defined by peoples congress, and executed by the peoples council itself (Doan 191). Communal conventions provide China with a unique opportunity to adjust standard administrative procedures to the specific needs of particular localities, and to meet the needs of hamlets and communities through effective self-management and decision-making.
China was, probably, the only country in East Asia to have temporarily sacrificed the benefits of communal conventions for the sake of the rules and regulations imposed by hamlets (Doan 191). In Japan, for example, communal conventions represent a long-standing cultural and administrative tradition, and even after the Meiji restoration, communal conventions in Japan were retained (Doan 191). The self-management mechanism in Japan is uniquely combined with the power of the village and or hamlet administration (Doan 191). In 1947, self-management and self-government in Japan were endorsed by the Japanese Diet (Doan 191). It goes without saying, that communal conventions in Japan, in China and in Vietnam reflect the cultural specificity of the region, for which they are created. In Japan, as well as in China, communal conventions are recognized by the state and communities use them to maintain the stability of the administrative order in their territories.
The situation is somewhat different in Vietnam, where the difference between laws and practices is more distinct, compared with Japan and China practices represent the category of ancestral customs that mirror peoples national culture with specific local and historical characteristics (Doan 193). Laws and practices are different in the power on which they rely while the former rely on the power of the state, the latter rest on the community traditions and customs (Doan 193). Communal conventions regularly change to reflect the non-static nature of administrative development in rural communities, but that they are often sketchy and are limited to cultural principles is a fact (Doan 194). Nevertheless, it is at least incorrect to say that communal conventions in Vietnam do not serve their administrative purpose in reality, communal conventions are institutionalized to the extent, which holds every household as a unit of execution and helps state authorities translate their regulations into reality of rural life (Doan 195). Hamlets and provinces successfully utilize communal conventions to self-manage their natural resources and to protect their territories from devastation, and provincial authorities are held responsible for coordinating and complying with the communal conventions (Doan 196-7). In the context of modern East Asia, communal conventions are important in several ways.
Communal conventions in East Asia have already turned into the most effective, widely acceptable, and universally recognized instrument of self-management. That communal conventions are universally recognized by rural communities means that the latter will follow and keep to the norms and principles imposed on them by provincial authorities and or rural councils. Communal conventions serve an effective means of preserving and promoting cultural practices that are characteristic of different cultural regions in East Asia. Communal conventions help rural communities to preserve their cultural specificity and, simultaneously, support communities in their striving to meet their cultural, social, and administrative needs. Communal conventions are still the most effective link between rural communities and the word of law. Rural communities use communal conventions to protect their interests and to meet their cultural and social needs. At times, communal conventions seem to reside in the realms undefined by the law itself (Doan 197), but it is an erroneous perception. Rather, it is due to communal conventions that communities and states in East Asia were able to preserve their social stability and sustain their cultural successes in the long run.
Conclusion
Communal conventions in East Asia exemplify a unique link between the cultural specificity of the rural communities and the word of law. Communal conventions represent a long-standing tradition of self-government and self-management in East Asia. Specific patterns of administrative order vary across Asian communities Japan, China, and Vietnam all chose to pursue different administrative paths, but there is a universal perception that communal conventions regulate the areas undefined by the law. In reality, these are communal conventions that gave East Asia a unique opportunity to preserve the dominance of self-government principles as the key to continuous social stability.
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