In mainland China,the rural communityis caught in an awkward situation in the process of modernization .Since the introduction of the policy of reform and opening-up,market forces have become an impetus for the revival of rural economy .The pressing-onward of market forces,however,results in the relative decline of some rural communities .In the transition from a traditional to a modern rural society,though the incentives of market forces have been fully recognized,the state is a redress of the negative impacts of large-scale marketization on rural development .With the growth of market forces,the rural development is driven by more than one single force,but the state still remains a dominant force to drain resources from rural communities .Both central and local governments are likely to intervene in the rural development in the name of rational calculation and benefit drafting,which truly impairs the benefits of some rural communities and peasants .Meanwhile,the two images of the state help it to obtain plenty of resources from the countryside on one hand and generate possibilities as well for the reconciliation between the state and the rural society on the other .Therefore,it is urgent for the state to rethink the direction,content and limit of its intervention,and to readjust the relationship between the state and the rural society from the perspective of long-term benefits of rural communities .As for the direction of intervention,the state is accountable for the survival of the rural communities in difficulties .It means that,the state not only needs to readjust the institutional reform in the beginning of the reform to release the control of market forces,but also needs all the more in the push of marketization to help those rural communities which are now in an inferior position in market resource allocation .As for the content of intervention,the state needs to increase financial support and provide public service for the rural communities,and take active measures to promote their development .And as for the limit of intervention,the state should avoid the undue control of market forces and their over-aggression on rural communities,and should also prevent itself from over-drafting the rural resources .The prospect of intervention is to achieve the linkage between rural and urban communities in terms of economic relationship and social structure .