A Group Of Passive Migration On Empirical Investigation

Group A were from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army led by theCommunist Party of China (“CPC”) before the founding of the People’s Republic ofChina (“the PRC”) in1949; Group A moved in1953from Shanghai to Changchunfor the construction of the First Automobile Works (“FAW”); they were collectivelydemobilized and transferred in1955to Company A and became its early-stage majormembers; they moved south in1960s to Sichuan for the Third Front Constructionwhich was a massive Chinese development of industry in its South-western interior;and they migrated to Beijing in the late1970s and live there until now. In a word,Group A has experienced the social changes and several migrations since thefounding of the PRC. By questionnaire surveys of and interviews with the membersof Group A who averagely are over85years old, especially by theinvestigation and interpretation of the files and documents recording their activitiesin1950s and1960s, this paper empirically describes the life course of Group Aexperiencing passive migrations, and focuses on the economic, political andideological practices experienced by them in their passive migrations, that is, a vividprocess of typical power practices between the state and individuals.Migration is an essential topic in demography and closely related to sociology.Based on the quantity statistics emphasized in demography, this paper also makesmuch use of relevant sociological and anthropological theories and methods, whichis based on not only the needs of the study in this paper but also the opiniondemographic study should pay attention to the population practice course or lifecourse on the basis of quantity statistics.Through the literature review and the clarification of the concept of populationmigration, this paper points out that China’s population migration theory cannotsolve the problems in plentiful practices of population migrations in China. For thestudy of Group A, this paper systemically clarifies the concept of populationmigration, proposes that population migrations can be divided into “activemigrations” and “passive migrations”, points out that “passive migrations” arenon-optional migrations and dominated by the state or society, but the traditional population migration theory, which can be also called the “active migration theory”,is based on the “hypothesis of rational man” and cannot guide and be applied to thestudy of passive migrations.On this basis, by the differentiation of the concepts of “power” and “right” inmodern political thoughts, this paper works out its theoretical framework for thestudy of the power practices between the state and individuals in passive migrations:“power” referred to herein means the most fundamental powers enjoyable by a stateas a state and an individual as an individual, and it is not contingent upon certaingovernmental forms or legal provisions; the operating mechanism of basic statepowers includes several aspects such as “power expansion”,“symbol”,“violence”,“supplies”,“practical measures” and “powerful figures”; the operating mechanism ofindividuals’ basic powers includes several aspects such as “desire”,“body”,“compassion”,“mythmaking” and “knowledge”; inter-subjectivity is the basicprovision that cannot be removed in the power practices between the state andindividuals, either the state or an individual operates its powers based on the powersof the other and obtains the foundation for strengthening its own powers, while onesubject’s strengthening of its own powers will inevitably provides the other subjectwith the foundation for strengthening powers, and there is no absolute active orpassive subject in this process.As the first step of the empirical study of Group A, this paper analyzes the basicinformation of Group A’s ages and maternity and Group A’s grandparents, parents,children and grandchildren from different perspectives such as case studies, groupstatistics, industries and social backgrounds. This paper analyzes and introduces theposition and influence of Company A in the construction industry and the nationaleconomic development. On one hand, this method aims to reveal the position ofCompany A as the subject of state powers directly affecting Group A; on the otherhand, it aims to reveal the typical significance of choosing Group A as the object ofthe study in reflecting the socio-demographic practice process. This part also pointsout the reason why this paper deems Group A as a passively migrated group.On this basis, the further study of the power practices between the state andindividuals embodied in the life course of Group A is the second key point of thispaper and also constitutes the response to and verification of the theoreticalassumption of the power practices between the state and individuals in passivemigrations, which not only has important significance for understanding the population processes of Group A in passive migrations, but also provides newmethods and findings for population-practice-based reexamination and redefinitionof China’s political and social practices in1950s and1960s.Based on the characteristics of state powers operation in the study, this paperconducts the empirical study and reveals relevant findings of state powers operationfrom three aspects. First, combination of symbolic power and violent power: thispaper points out that the PRC’s foundation for successfully establishing its symbolicpowers is “the people” and its successful building its image as the spokesperson ofthe people. The interpretation of the concept of “the people” is the core mechanismfor the operation of the PRC’s symbolic powers and also provides the foundation forthe operation of other state powers. Contrary to people’s impression on “eliminationof counterrevolutionaries” and other similar movements that in such movements“most people are relied upon and a few are targeted at”, this paper finds that suchmovements is essentially a power process of “benefiting most people by fightingwith a few” and closely related to the operation of symbolic powers. Second, thecomprehensive governance and expansion of powers in supplies and powers inpractical measures: through the study of household registration, grain, supply system,labor emulation, selection of advanced individuals or teams and other aspects, andthrough the re-analysis of “Three-Anti and Five-Anti Campaigns”“Political purge ofhidden counterrevolutionaries”“The Cultural Revolution” and other movements,this paper reveals the mechanism by which state powers reaches households andfurther affects “instantaneous thoughts” and earlier generations, reveals the trend ofcontinuous expansion of state powers, and reveals the essence of “iron rice bowl” asthe product of power games. Third, powerful figures as the mechanism and itsvariants of power operation: Through the empirical study of Group A, this paperreveals the special existence of personalized organizations as the operation ofpowerful figures in the PRC, and this finding challenges the traditional perspectivewhich regards “individual worship” as prominent malpractices in the politics of thePRC, and deems it is “organization worship” that is the characteristic andmalpractice in the politics of the PRC.This paper studies and reveals the practices of individuals’ powers from threeaspects. First, the power of desire and the power of body as the most active force: bythe records in well documented files, this paper reveals how individuals facing statepowers maintain, develop and grow the power of desire and the power of body, and laziness, fraud and sex are several important causes for the operation and growth ofindividuals’ power of desire and power of body. Second, the power of mythmakingand the power of compassion: according to the empirical study of Group A, by theinteraction and development of the operation of the state symbolic powers, Group Aenabled the rapid growth of its power of mythmaking, and such power ofmythmaking not only helped Group A live a comparatively comfortable mental lifeat that time, but also drove Group A to continuously demand power from the state atlater time; such condition reveals the mental logic of such mythic “unselfishness” inthe era unanimously as is recognized even until now by the people living in the sameera as Group A. The power of compassion is almost as successful as the power ofmythmaking, and thanks to such power, all the efforts of Group A yield necessaryreturns on Group A’s children. Third, the power of knowledge and the specialrelationship between intellectuals and Group A: By the comprehensive discussion ofthe conditions of Group A and intellectuals, this paper elaborates the followingopinion: Many sufferings by Group A enabled Group A to experience the operationmode of state powers which resulted in the high increase in individuals’ powers; dueto the transformation of and distrust in intellectuals, and with the inevitablereadjustment of the mode of the transformation of intellectuals by state powers,Group A was emancipated from the troubles caused by state powers, but it alsogradually lost the opportunities of successfully gaining individuals’ powerstherefrom.Finally, this paper focuses on the main contributions or innovations of the study:the study of Group A before the members die; proposals and attempts in theempirical study of the population process, i.e., the vivid give-and-take process ofpractices of state powers and individuals’ powers; revelation of the status quo andproblems of the study of China’s population migration; the re-development of theconcept of population migration, and the development of the concept of passivemigrations and the power practice paradigm; and the study of Group A carried out onthe basis of the power practice paradigm in passive migrations in this paper and thenew findings in the re-analysis of China’s political and social practices in1950s and1960s.