Shanxi Village Governance: The National Executive And The Integration Of Rural Autonomy (1917-1928)

From 1917 to 1928, Shanxi administrative authority proceeded with extensive reform of the village government and construction of village autonomy, as well as the profound autonomous movement in each village, which is named "Village Autonomy of Shanxi". This kind of reform and construction is the continuance of the local political reform since late Tsing Dynasty, as well as the practice of Yan Xishan's idea of managing Shanxi. "Village Autonomy of Shanxi", on one hand, inherited the Chinese tradition of powerful national administration and village autonomy; on the other hand, it also absorbed the western democracy and legal system, as well as the idea of local autonomy. Besides, Japanese village system was also referred to. Its basic principle is to integratethe national administration and village autonomy, therefore to achieve the development of the country's efficient administration over the villages and the systematic development of the villages.When the modern history is observed chronologically, the major problem of the reform in local administrative system and village system in Chinese modern history is the integrity of national administration and villages. The principle of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" can also be applied to both of them. Therefore, "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" is a typical example of the integrity of the country and society in modern China. In this article, "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" has been studied from four perspectives-the national administration into the villages, the construction of autonomy of village people, the integrity of the social forces in villages, and the promotion of social reform with the power of administration. The content is as follows.Chapter â… : Description of the geographic features of Shanxi, characteristics of the village organizations in traditional society, the sociopolitics and the economic crisis in villages, and the historical background of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi".Chapter â…¡: Introduction of the advocators of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" in addition to the process and the content of the movement.Chapter â…¢: Analysis of how the advocators of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" could bring the village affairs into national administration by resorting to the power of administration. The administration of village affairs was rendered the top priority in the county administration by reinforcing the function of the provincial administration over village administration, by creating the district-level administration, and by establishing the administrative village of duel characteristics, which accordingly changed the situation that no administration had existed under county administration and the construction of the villages had been hardly realized in traditional society. Consequently, the goal of the administrative reform to bring the village affairs into national administration had been achieved, which guaranteed and secured the process of village administration.Chapter â…£: The details of village autonomy system are introduced, which include the establishment of country public organization, village people's conference, censorial committee, intermediation the organization of the litigation, security group, and village disciplines. All these being established represents a whole set of village autonomous system which bears modern democratic and legal significance. They tried to establish a society of order in villages through the combination of the traditional Chinese village autonomy with western local autonomous system. Besides, with the possible official sources gained and those from research, the author isalso trying to offer a comprehensive reflection of the situation of the practice of village autonomy as well as a conclusion of the features of the implementation of the system within various counties. Finally, the three typical features of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi"-paying attention to the combination of the tradition and the present, paying attention to the "direct civil rights" and "official administration" of common people, and penetration of autonomy-has been analyzed and made clear.Chapter â…¤: "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" cultivated and absorbed students and businessmen to take part in the reform of village administration and village construction; and meanwhile, they tried to defeat, change and make the best of the esquires, family forces and old country manager according to the real situation, which to a great extent brought all the rambling social forces under the national administration.Chapter â…¥: In the movement of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi", the local government integrateed with the historical trend, and then carried out a dynamic social culture reform by employing administrative power to establish education, to change the traditional morality, ethic and custom, which was aimed to offer a radical solution to the problems like the underdevelopment of science and technology, the shortage of capable persons in the village, and the ideas that were out-of-date and conservative.Chapter â…¦: The success and failure of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" is evaluated from political, economic, social, and cultural perspectives, and thereby the realistic significance of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" is explained."Village Autonomy of Shanxi" had a profound influence on the construction of other provinces as well as the county and village construction at that time, and it also bears referential significance for the reform in local administration and village democratic construction for today. The problems it reflected about politics, economy, the society, and culture in the countryside in China, are still existent nowadays, more or less. After the comprehensive analysis of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi", especially the analysis of the difficulties it was confronted with and during the practice, might be of great help for us to realize the problems that exist in present reform and construction of villages, and therefore to be illuminating.During the study, the author tries to innovate, have a breakthrough and achieve something in the theoretical construction and the choice of approaches. In general, two aspects are included:â… . Choice of a new perspective of study. The author tries to study "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" from 1917 to 1928 from a historical and macro-perspective, tries to make clear its political, economic, social and cultural problems, while tying to avoid the approach that solely concentrates on the battle among different classes and the national consciousness. Theories of history, politics, sociology, economics and culturology are employed after the thoughts about the history and the reality. Therefore the theory of the combination of national administration and village autonomy is constructed and employed in the investigation and evaluation of the historic events within the field of study.â…¡. Innovation of the academic viewpoint and the theory. The author for the first time reveals that the innate spirit of "Village Autonomy of Shanxi" was from the reformers in Shanxi who desired to construct village economy and social culture in villages through the integrity of national administration, local autonomy and social forces in villages, and therefore, desire to build a national administration of high efficiency and an orderly village society. Then evaluate this on the basis of the construction of theoretic frame of the integrity of the nationaladministration and village society, which could hopefully offer reference to the history and thoughts on the reality for the current administrative reform in the villages and "village people autonomy".