Village managed by the rich,as a practice of villagers’ autonomy,has an important effect on grassroots democracy.The experience of the target village in eastern Zhejiang shows that its village politics have evolved in the direction of oligarchy in the process of democratic practice.Its democratic nature is just the formalized democracy,embodied by the monopoly of money in election,the routinization of democratic procedure,and the privatization of democratic governance.Formalized democracy is created by the legalization of democratic politics,the economization of qualifications for participation in political affairs and the alliance between government and capital.Formalized democracy does not conform to the development of grassroots democracy,thus resulting in the shrink of grassroots democracy,impairment of the legitimacy of grassroots regime,jeopardy of justice and fairness,and booming of conflicts in village,which in turn gives rise to the unsustainable development of the village.The democratic practice of village managed by the rich relies on the people,which could guarantee the people’s power to be the master.