Countermeasures Of Local Society Against Survival Crisis In The Republic Of China

In the Republic of China,disasters happened frequently and caused great sufferings to local society.In the summer of 1934 and the period thereafter,an unusual famine rarely seen for a hundred years occurred in southeast China,when people all struggled to cope with the crisis in different ways.In terms of its causes,long-term impacts and the countermeasures taken by Local society,the investigation of the unusual southeast famine in 1934 is of special significance to the research on disasters in the modern history of China.Though the abnormal weather directly resulted in the great drought in 1934,the destruction of ecological environment,the lack of water conservation facilities and the haste of local society to cope with the situation were the underlying reasons for the great drought to become a famine and cause all the sufferings to refugees.The drought was a severe blow to the production and life of people in disaster areas,causing huge economic losses and frequent social unrest.In the face of the great famine,local governments all made hard efforts to cope with it according to the plans and instructions of the central government.On the basis of existing regulations or temporary decrees,local governments developed relief mechanisms to fight against the famine,attaching importance to social publicity and the raise of funds for disaster relief.In respect of relief coordination,local governments paid attention to the effective interaction between superior and subordinate authorities,between authorities at the same levels and between them and administration departments,valued collaborative work with social forces in disaster relief,and took notice of guiding refugees in saving themselves according to different circumstances.Local governments took various measures with different emphases to relieve the disaster,such as urgent relief,work relief,the exemption and postponement of taxes,agricultural loans,the introduction of mechanical irrigation,the proposal of artificial rain and the promotion of water conservation projects,which all reflected the modern tendency of local governments in coping with the famine on the basis of keeping the continuity of traditionalpolicies for famine relief.Economic stability was maintained by emphasizing both administrative and market-based means.The effect of relief was guaranteed by strict inspection,rewarding the good and punishing the evil.The unrest society was pacified by combining different measures,including comfort,persuasion,command and deterrence,which played a positive role in guaranteeing disaster relief and maintaining the social and economic order.It was indisputable that there were some drawbacks of the government's response towards the famine,which include the insufficient routine administration and daily preparation.It had caused problems such as the slow response,lack of funds and drought equipments,which led the relief of the government to get half the result with twice the effort and its failure to obtain the ideal achievement.Social forces have made enormous contribution to deal with the great drought and famine.Because of their flexible ways of donation,it had attracted a large number of relief resources.The native complex,the concept of charity and the call of humanitarianism made more and more people involved and expand the forces of the relief even more.In the process of local relief and cross-regional relief,social forces paid great attention to the management of the relief subject,the supervision of the relief process and kept the public informed to monitor the relief work.They played a role of the bridge between the government and the refugees.At the same time,different social charity organizations also paid attention to coordination and cooperation.As for the spiritual comfort and the guidance of public opinion,social forces not only showed their own advantages and helped the refugees to supervise the government,but also contributed ideas and encouraged people to donate according to their conditions.The action from Jiaxu Zhejiang Relief Association highlighted the positive role of the social forces during the great famine.The great famine caused a lot of living difficulties for refugees,including fewer income and the increased cost of living caused poor conditions,abnormal life caused daily rhythm disorders,the spread of the rumor and the abnormal behavior caused psychological problems,epidemic disease also made everything even worse.On the positive side,refugees first took self-saving actions through the replenishment of the water,the alternative of the plant and the strength of the subsidiary business to save the agriculture lost.Then,they sought funds through a variety of channels and looked for food substitution for life recovery.At the same time,they helped each other and sought relief funds from thegovernment and the society.It all reflected the initiative from the refugees.On the negative side,rain-praying has provided psychological comfort but it caused the loss of the resources.While fled for hunger and group robbery for food has accelerated the unsafely of the society to a certain extent.The extreme ways,such as selling children and women,abandonment,suicide and others,showed that the self-saving ability of the refugees was weak and the national relief capabilities was insufficient.The change of daily life style of urban people showed the living conditions and coping styles of drought among different social classes.The abnormal response in crisis time is closely related to the normal regional economic and social life.In 1934,the extraordinary famine examined the state of the ecosystem environment in the southeast China region to some extent.It demonstrated that the potential and long-term influence of the ecological environment factors for survival and development in Local society.The routine administration and emergency plans from local government showed a certain ability to deal with the disaster.However,the insufficient finance and the rush measures have greatly obstructed the famine effectiveness of the government.The famine response from social forces not only embodied the tradition of the regional charity,but also showed the transition of the relief methods.The positive and negative coping style for the refugees to face the crisis of life have highlighted the increasingly isolated rural areas and people's weak self-saving ability during the Republic of China period.In the study of disaster and famine history,social history scholars should pay more attention to this abnormal — normal relevancy.