Abstract: More than half of the residents in Qianjing village in Caoping Hui ethnic township in Guilin, Guangxi are of Hui ethnic group, belonging to the descendants of the Bai ancestry who moved there in the early Qing Dynasty. After hundreds of years of development, the Bai family in Qianjing village has developed their own patriarchal clan system, built ancestral hall and made an agreement among sub-clans. The original 4 sub-clans have developed into 12 ones nowadays. After the 1950s, with the transformation of rural society enforced by state power, the patriarchal clan system and religious belief of the Bai family in Qianjing village were affected. Since the 1990s, with the transformation of Chinese society and the help of the local elites, religious belief in Qianjing village has been gradually revived. The Bai clan which had the huge influence held the absolute power in the village affairs. The case of Qianjing village shows that in the process of transformation of village governance in contemporary Chinese society, it is necessary not only to understand how clan, religious and other traditional cultural factors function in rural society governance, but also pay attention to dissolving the possible negative impacts and lead them to adapt to the development trend of modern society.

Key words: patriarchal clan system, islam, Qianjing village, governance of rural society, local elites