A Research On Local Self-Government In Hebei Province During The Ten Years Before Anti-Japan War (1928-1937)

During the ten years before Anti-Japan War, the government of Hebei Province complied with major policies related to local self-government carried out by the national government in Nanjing, according to the reality of Hebei, and carried out a great local self-government movement involving aspects of politics, economy, culture and education in the Land of YanZhao. This article takes this as research object, based on arrangements and analysises of massive files and literary material; it tries to explore the movement's detailed implementing process, its effect, problems arosed in practice, insufficiency and its crux. This article is divided into six parts:The first part outlines the overall course in which the local self-government was carried out in Hebei Province. The local self-government movement during ten years before Anti-Japan War in Hebei Province, changing along with continual adjustments to local self-government policies made by national government in Nanjing, may approximately be divided into three relatively different phases that are establishment, advance and adjustment, each phase having its own characteristic.The second part elaborates the organization construction of local self-government in Hebei Province. An entire set of local self-government's organization system was carried out from top to bottom in various counties of Hebei Province, but mostly became a mere formality.The third part mainly inspects local self-government's construction of talented persons in Hebei Province. The selecting, training, inspection, rewards and punishment to the local self-government talented persons has been planned elaborately and put into practice by the government of Hebei, but with little effect.The fourth part analyzes the enterprise construction for local self-government in Hebei Province. Government of counties in Hebei Province devoted much attention to the affairs assigned by the government, such as permanent recidence investigition, local self-defense, with much dealt with; while the autonomous enterprises closely linked with the lives of the people were almost ignored, with little conducted.The fifth part explores main restrictive factors of local self-government in Hebei Province. Hebei Province's local self-government movement during ten years before The Anti-Japan War obtained a certain result, but the implementation effect was far from achieving the system designing ideal. Social order turbulence, rural economy going bankruptcy, autonomous funds raising with great troulbe, and the countryside traditional customs ingrained were key aspects that caused the failure of local self-government in Hebei Province.Sixth part is the conclusion. Hebei Province's local self-government movement during ten years before The Anti-Japan War, carried out by the Kuomintang, was an important part of the great social transforming movement in rurul areas all over the country, involving aspects such as politics, economy, culture and society. It has written down dark ink and color in the historic course of political democratization at the grass-roots level in our country, from which lessons drawn still have important inspiring significance to today's construction of democracy and political power at the grass-roots level.