Abstract:  The relationship between rights and obligations is an important perspective to examine the construction and conservation of human society. Viewing urban community governance from this perspective, we may easily find that both the notion of “the People’s City” and the goal of building a social governance community are identified with the concept of “residents’ obligations preceding residents’ rights ”. Given the dilemma of urban community governance that “while China’s urban residents are enjoying increasing services (rights) in communities, their due responsibilities and obligations as community masters are continuously degrading, even disappearing”, the critical approach to this problem lies in constructing a community governance mode in which residents’ rights and obligations are comparatively balanced. Based on a field investigation in communities of Shanghai and using the mobile observation method and fixed-point observation method, we find that over-administration of the neighborhood committees, low-level operation of residents’ self-governance and weakening sense of community are the leading causes of residents’ unbalanced rights and obligations. In the future, sustainable development of Chinese urban community governance shall not only rely on appropriate intervention and policy support from government bodies, but also on residents’ self-governance combining both responsibilities and obligations and on the building of a governance community where “everyone is responsible, conscientious and rewarded”.

Key words: community governance, residents’ rights, residents’ obligation