POWER IN RURAL SOCIETY: NORTH CHINA VILLAGES, 1900 - 1940

The study asks the questions: who wielded power in the rural society of north China before liberation and how did they do so? It examines the relations of power in this society through various institutions such as religion, kinship and patronage, and studies the impact upon these relations of "state making", a major historical development of this period.;The study also addresses certain relationships and institutions that organized power in society which are relatively impervious to the historical impact of state making. These include certain types of religious associations, water control organizations, and the relations of the village to the market. The enduring character of these social phenomena gives them a significance that transcends the limits of the area and period under study.;The deepening penetration of local society by the state was a very important factor in transforming the institutional framework within which leadership and authority were expressed in the villages. The creation of new, formal political institutions in the village by the state in the early 20th century had the effect of separating the performance of community functions embedded in religion, kinship and the middleman's role from the exercise of political power. Subsequently, certain developments combined to make village office such as unrewarding task that traditional community leaders began to shun public office and village politics came to be dominated by political entrepreneurs and the "local bully". Although the wars of the 20th century and the demands made on the rural populace played their role, the study suggests that the contribution of state making to this crisis of authority can no longer be underestimated. The particular form of state making in China which was so important for this development evolved from the brokerage model of state-society relations--pattern of relations which the Republican state inherited from its imperial predecessor.