Negotiations between Fu District Government and Fu Street Grassroots Chamber of Commerce based on consultative democracy realized a “win-win” compromise between the state and society. This Fu Street Grassroots Chamber of Commerce “ethnography” reveals China’s constitutional construction cannot yet translate into a transformation period for government, but NGO’s and local governments can actively contact each other under the existing constitutional framework and adapt to policy and regulations through consultative democracy, working and compromising through rational interaction. The regional nature of this kind of “proper compromise” shows that NGOs and regional governments can work towards a mutually beneficial harmonious society through negotiations based on equality. The micro-experience of regional constitutionalism still needs to become part of national law, but this experience has opened a new road for structural, beneficial interaction between Chinese state and society.
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