"Political ability" of Chinese rurality at "medium" level

The "political ability" of rural Chinese people is at a medium level and more than half believe going to court is too much trouble, said a Chinese university research report on Thursday.

The overall political ability index of non-urbanites in China was calculated at 0.59, medium level (between 0.4 to 0.6), according to the report by the center for Chinese rural studies at Central China Normal University.

From 0.6 to 0.8 is considered high and 0.8 to 1.0 very high. The index uses 36 subjective and objective categories, covering political knowledge, awareness, attitude and participation.

Rural people with high income and good education care more about political events and are more likely to join in public affairs.

The report surveyed more than 4,000 residents in 242 villages nationwide from 2013 to 2014. It also covered their legal awareness.

According to the report, 59 percent of interviewees said law enforcement was quite or very fair, but 66 percent said the phenomena of "a power above law" existed in society.

Some 51.5 percent said that engaging in a lawsuit was too much trouble while about one fifth said they know little about law.

"Rural people are the basic, important and difficult part of the country's rule of law," said Xu Yong, head of the rural studies center. The rule of law in the countryside is still far from meeting national goals, according to the report.

Legal knowledge and awareness should be further promoted among rural people, said the scholar.