Changing Folklore And Changing Politics

The thesis focuses on the change of Shanghai folklore, and elaborates the establishment and maintenance of the government authority during the 10 years of Nanjing KMT rule. The first task for the new KMT government, after its establishment in 1927, was to establish and maintain its authority. In doing so, the government had to maintain the social stability and make social progress. The Folklore changes took place under this situation. This thesis contains 3 parts.Part 1 i.e. chapter 1, analyzes the reasons that Shanghai municipal government changed local folklore during the period of the KMT rule. Good folklore promotes but bad one prevents the social development, so the government changed the folklore in order to influence politics.Part 2, including chapters 2 and 3, mainly investigates the process that Shanghai municipal government established and maintained the government authority through changing folklore to changing politics, meanwhile, discusses about the relations between central government, local government and the populace. Chapter 2 focuses on the process of destroying the old and constructing the new order and people's response to it. This chapter explains its background, procedure and features and takes the examples of the government's eliminating superstition and promoting commemoration days for revolution. It concludes that it was difficult for KMT government to destroy the old folklore and to form new folklore. Chapter 3 is about how the government promoted social development through changing the folklore. KMT government built a highly effective institutional system and put forward forcefully social mobilization, which pushed forward the folklore change to be systematic. However, forcefully social mobilization had its shortcomings. So the government had to take measures to integrate society. On one hand it led social force to play an active role in social reform to promote the form of a social integration force; on the other hand it learnt the experience of administration in the international settlement and introduced new social administration system. This chapter illustrates the scene of how the political integration force worked during that special age with the examples of group weddings and rites of funeral.Part 3 i.e. chapter 4, through analyzing the consequences and restriction elements of changing the folklore and politics, discusses about the relations between central government and local government, between state power and social folklore. The folklore change was humane and scientific, and promoted modernity and the progress of civilization, but it couldn't consolidate the rule of government, nor maintain its authority. There were two restriction factors for this. On one hand those central measures for changing folklore was reduced or transferred by local society; on the other hand popular belief and local religions were resources for modernization, but also great batteries for folklore and politics change.In a word, the KMT government changed the folklore in order to maintain social order and promote social development. While changing folklore, a modern state needs to deal well with the relationship between the tradition and the modernity, and make the traditional folklore become the important force to establish the modern national state.