A Study On The Innovation Of The Administrative System In The Shanxi - Gansu - Ningxia Border Region During The Anti - Japanese War

During the anti-Japanese invasion war Chinese Communist Party (CCP) upheld the ideal of fighting against the invasion of Japanese, and adopted a series of political strategies like moving northward to combat the invasion and forming the anti-Japanese coalition with the Kuomingtang (KMT). Moreover, numerous political strategies had been implemented, which included the publication of Bayi (i.e. August1st) Declaration and forming the anti-Japanese collation These strategies had followed the tide of the times at that time, led the development of the society to the right direction, and won the high opinion of different parties and people of different walks of life. What particularly worthies mentioning is the establishment of Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia border area (SGN government) in September1937, which marked the beginning of sharing political power with KMT, opened a new chapter in anti-Japanese collation and started a completely new system of administration. All of these have made it very necessary to review and analyze the development of the SGN government and its system of administration in theory and practice.The system of administrative is concerned with the setting of relevant offices, the division of power and operation. It is an integral part of the national political administration system. The SGN government had adopted the experience of the management of central Chinese soviet area and KMT government, and implemented an innovative system of administration, especially in the setting of the special administrative region of ethnic minority groups. This measure is regarded as one great progress made in dealing with the affairs of different ethnic groups and leads it to the right direction. The second innovative way in administration is the adoption of the governance of the region through San Zheng Liang Fu (i.e. three leaders and two deputy ones). It also made some innovation to comply with the changes of the politics of home and abroad. New form of administration and policy had been set up and this helped the reform of its own management and development and maintained a balance in sharing the cost of administration between government and the public. The third one is the establishment of the system of recruiting officers based on merits. Emphasis was made to recruit intellectuals and those who were not CCP members into the administration team. These measures had helped improve the policy and the structure of personnel management and ensured the healthy development of the team of administration. The fourth innovation lies in its management of finances. Considerable attention was paid to its revenues and budgets. It wisely tackled the issue of expenses and succeeded in making ends meet. Effective policy and measures had been taken to realize the financial independence. It not only saved and was thrift in spending but finding new ways of increasing its revenue. Sufficient provision of money and materials were ensured for the cause of combating the invasion of Japanese. The last innovative way of administration is the achievements made in laws and legislation. A wide range of areas and topics had been covered and there were many in quantity. These helped ensure the smooth operation of the administration and the right conducts of management. When the government was to make a decision, it would consult the public and conducted survey. When it was to implement any policy, it would mobilize the administration at different levels and the public. An effective watchdog mechanism was created to monitor the administration and the officers.As mentioned above, the SGN government had taken numerous innovative measures in its system of administration. All of these had contributed to the prosperity of the border area and provided insightful historical experience and lesson to learn from, which includes:1. the leadership of CCP should be adhered to;2. the people-centered values should be adopted in administration;3.the views that the political power is from the people and by the people should be held;4. a wide participation of the public in administration should be advocated;5. the way of governance is through legislation;6. the way to keep a clean government and combat corruption is the enforcement of severe punishment;7.the way to develop the administration healthily is to be innovative. These lessons learned from the SGN government would be of help and value for the current political reform of the system of administration.