Government,Business And Society:Study On The Food Problem In Nanjing During Kuomintang Rule From 1927 To 1949

In 1927,Kuomintang government founded in Nanjing and since then Nanjing became the political center.Kuomintang government paid more attention to its construction and management because Nanjing was the capital and brought international attention.Owing to the opportunity,Nanjing food industry made a spurt of progress of development from 1927 to 1937,whether it was the number of food shops or the overall scale of capital increased dramatically.In Nanjing food industry exchange system,the food dealer,food processors,food parasitic class and food distribution business and other parts were closely related with each other and rose and fell with the development of the food industry.With the development of Nanjing food industry and the continual occurrence of the contradiction of its supply and demand,Nanjing municipal authorities through the registration measures and other measures gradually strengthened in the food industry management,thus breaking the food business operating system maintained by industry self-regulation.However,when Nanjing municipal authorities brought food industry into the control of government public power,food businessmen instinctively adjusted their relationship with the government for the purpose of safeguarding their own interests.They conflicted or cooperated according to their own interests.The large-scale food industry registration and management in 1929 and 1937 provided a footnote for the following views.Rice shortage from 1929 to 1930 was the major economical and social problem after the establishment of the Kuomintang government and Nanjing municipal authorities suffered the first livelihood issue after Nanjing became the capital.Thus,to deal with the rice shortage,Nanjing municipal authorities took all kinds of measures which maintained the basic stability of food market,reflecting the ability of Nanjing municipal authorities handling food supply crisis.But the prohibition of "stop grain" and funding Pingtiao of the central government had not been effectively implemented,which revealed limitation of Nanjing municipal authorities dealing with the relations between the neighboring provinces,also showed the KMT Central Government lacking the necessary authority to its agencies and local governments.In the rice shortage,the measures taken by food businessmen towards the government were not a completely positive attitude.They conflicted or cooperated from time to time.But overall,food businessmen could timely give the government corresponding cooperation.Nanking had ever planed to set up the rice market for three times from 1927 to 1937.However,in the process of its establishment,it took Nanking government much time and energy to rationalize the relationship with the Ministry of Finance,the Jiangsu provincial government and the Anhui provincial government due to economic,political and military factors.Besides,the relationship of other interest groups also entangled obscurely.January 28th Incident and Marco Polo Bridge Incident due to the tense relations between China and Japan had influenced he rice market plan at every critical moment.In addition,Nanking Special Municipal Government's finance was very difficult,and its governing ability was also weak.The long-cherished wish of establishment of Nanking's rice market didn't carry out in the end,which reflects Nanking national government's ruling ability.In addition,in these ten years,Nanjing was in the shadow of war for two times.In order to stabilize the public psychological panic on food supply and demand,and further maintain social order,Nanjing municipal authorities took a number of measures to ease food source,stabilize prices,which reflected the ability of Nanjing municipal authorities to deal with the wartime crisis.Meantime,through the discussion on food purchase activities before the fall of Nanjing municipal authorities in December,1937,and case analysis on Nanjing source of food storage,it refuted Nanjing massacre was due to the Japanese "lack of food".Through the investigation of the reform of Hu Profession,the disputes and conflicts of Shao Profession and baskets Profession,and the disputes and conflicts of daily life,the outline of the social relation network centered as the food industry came out.In the process of mediation of disputes and conflicts,Nanjing food industry showed its seeking autonomy beyond the force of the government.However,in most cases,the government still played a leading role,which highlighted the Kuomintang government's strong control force to the food industry in the core areas,far beyond the general area.After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War,Nanjing food supply crisis was more and more serious,the Kuomintang government had to implement the food placement system from the civil servants food rationing,the poor rice placement,to public food comprehensive placement.The original intention of the establishment of this system was to stabilize food price,but in fact food price was still rising,and even food rationing system became the booster of food price rising.Rice riots occurred,which had clearly declared the failure of food rationing system.The success or failure of food rationing system reflected the Kuomintang government can not fundamentally solve the problem of rising price,currency devaluation,such stopgap policy doomed to fail.In the process of food rationing,the speculative nature of food businessmen had once again revealed.In a word,Nanjing food problem during the Kuomintang ruling from 1927 to 1949 reflected the complicated interest relations caused by food between the government and all social groups,highlighted the general situation of Nanjing urban social and economic life at that time and showed a glimpse of Nanjing national government administrative ability and the influence of the food politics.