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In this article, I examine the moral review councils (MRCs) established in China's rural areas since the early 1980s. I show that MRCs create a liminal plebeian public sphere in the context of a civilising offensive that deals with the uncivil behaviours of individuals and disputes between neighbours. In this plebeian public sphere, the MRC incorporates techniques of the Maoist mass meeting, the democratic election, traditional mediation and a pedagogy of exemplars, all of which are depoliticised into purely technical instruments. Their institutional legitimacy comes from organised virtues based on councillors' male seniority and the democratic method of their selection. MRCs, as an instrument of a civilising offensive, are a kind of paternalistic technology, which involves a complex strategy of a hybridity of acts, relationships, thoughts, desires and temptations of village residents in the context of the reform era. The people targeted in this civilising offensive often experience two levels of stigmatisation and their participation determines the effectiveness of the operation of MRCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I reflect on the ethical implications of my research visit to China's prisons. I argue that satisfying instituted ethical protocols in this type of research is the beginning of the ethical process, not the end. "Ethical research" involves constant reflection on how the researcher's self is constituted in relation to others, not only the primary research group but also fellow researchers, gatekeepers, facilitators, prison officials, and the representatives of the many organizations involved in such a program. Interpretive or critical inquiries are not solely about deciding "whose side we are on," but more about what kind of relations between the self and various stakeholders existed before, during, and after fieldwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]