Legal Pathways for Digital Empowerment of Rural Revitalization in Old Revolutionary Base Areas

Digital empowerment can provide important governance and legal support for rural revitalization in old revolutionary base areas. Yet wider network coverage or the launch of a digital platform should not, by itself, be treated as evidence that rule-of-law governance has been achieved. Many old revolutionary base areas are located in remote mountainous regions, where digital legal governance has developed slowly, infrastructure is not always fully used, and platforms can easily become little more than visible traces of administrative assessment. Whether digital empowerment is effective should instead be judged by more concrete questions: whether legal services respond to villagers’ needs, whether different groups can participate meaningfully, and whether disadvantaged residents have access to remedies. Three problems are especially prominent at present. The ownership and sharing of agricultural data remain unsettled; digital capacity in grassroots law enforcement and justice is still limited; and some groups, particularly older residents, do not receive sufficient information or protection of their data-related rights. This article therefore argues that technology should be placed within a legal framework rather than allowed to determine governance on its own. Data sharing should follow the Regulations on Government Data Sharing, information collection should comply with the Personal Information Protection Law, coordination and online case handling at the grassroots level should be improved, and participation and remedies for vulnerable groups should be made genuinely accessible. The Ma Xiwu judicial tradition may also be carried forward through forms such as online courts, but its continuation must be supported by institutions and procedures rather than by the mere existence of a platform.