| In the summer of 1920, the rice price suddenly rose to sixteen yuan in Shanghai, and aroused a riot in the lower-income classes. The follow things was unceasing, such as the workers striking, the famine victim robbing, the merchant stop doing business, poor people committing suicide. This was the first grain panic in Shanghai since the first year of the Republic of China (1912-1949), which led to the strong response in the press circle. Many kinds of newspapers published articles one after another, and discussed the reasons of the rice shortage and the measures which to solve it. The people found that the reason in the surface was the officials collaborated with the businessmen, they smuggled the rice to Japan in the name of army rice, which made Shanghai short of rice and source ceased. But the fundamental reason was modern agriculture stagnated, the rice output couldn't meet the food demand daily increase. In addition, food supplies varied in time and in space, government extorted and blackmailed, rice dealer exploited at each level, which made rice circulation blocked. This was one of the most important reasons that led to city food supply crisis. The press put forward emergency and fundamental measures in view of these reasons, and advanced rational proposal aim at government emergency measures. In these public opinions, people put forward a series of scientific views in view of the problem of rice production, rice circulation, rice reserve and rice statistics. These views were a series of strategies that pay more attention to technology, and change the traditional agriculture completely from economy. These views were the new-style desire for agriculture that had wide-ranging social fabric in the early years of the Republic of China (1912-1949). These views were new thoughts of the food security in modern China. These thoughts show that people had comparatively systematic and scientific views about food problems in the early years of the Republic of China (1912-1949). |
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