A Study On The Farmers' Poverty In Guangxi During The Period Of The Republic Of China

The research on the farmers'poverty, burden,and living condition in Guangxi during the period of the Republic of China has not been done enough by academia. Although some works and papers concern this aspect, they mention this content in passing when discussing the common condition of the rural society in Guangxi during that period. This kind of description seems piecemeal to a certain, so it needs to be studied more deeply and thoroughly. As it is a weak aspect which is not researched enough by academia, here the author chooses this content to study and he believes it is of academic meaning to some extent. What's more, we can draw historical lessons from the research since it can be helpful for us to solve the"three rural problems", to reduce the farmers'burden. Therefore, it also has a certain practical significance.The structure of this thesis can be divided into three parts, namely, the introduction, the main text and the conclusion. In the thesis, the author describles such phenomena :the heavy burden on the farmers, the universal poverty of them and their perilous living condition, then, he analyzes the reasons resulting in this phenomenon from many different aspects. Among them, the farmers'heavy burden is the main reason and the in-depth reason why the farmers shoulder so heavy burden lies in the feudal land ownership by landlords, the state power possessed by the landlord class. In addition, the stormy social environment, the unpredictable changes in policy, the unceasing wars , the frequent natural disasters, the underdeveloped cultural and educational undertakings in countrysides, the terrible medical and health conditions for the farmers. All of these contributed to the farmers'impoverishment.In the introduction part, the author explains the reason why he selects this subject to study, besides the study's purpose, significance, scope and the writing methods he adopts. As the author considers it necessary, he defines several relating terms and their relations with each other.The main body begins with probing into the condition of land occupation in Guangxi during the Republic of China times. Then the author describes the phenomenon of the obvious land concentration in the countrysides during that period, of the land annexation that the landlords forced the farmers to give up their smaller and smaller lands. Through this description, he concludes that the root reason resulting in the farmers'poverty lies in the feudal land ownership system.The author then points out that when the farmers lacked fundamental means of production---land, they were forced to accept the harsh tenancy terms to exchange the landlords'lands to cultivate. As the tenancy relationship developed, the landlords unceasingly aggravated the exploitation of land rent to the farmers. Naturally, the heavier the land rent was, the poorer the farmers were , and the more active the trade capital and the usury capital were. What's worse was that the New and Old Gui Clique regimes were established for the landlords'good. They constantly aggravated land taxes, increased all kinds of exorbitant and multifarious taxes and levies to the farmers to satisfy themselves. Thus, the farmers'life became harder and harder.The turbulent social environment, the unpredictable changes in policy and the changeable political power, all contributed to the financial turbulence and inflation. These availed the landlords, bureaucrats, rich merchants, and usurers of opportunities to shift the burden and crisis to the farmers. In these circumstances the real victims were still the farmers.The long-term war environment gave the countrysides and agriculture an appalling devastation. The wars destroyed people's homelands. A large number of able-bodied men who had been farmers were conscripted to perform military service. Among them, many lost their lives on the battle fields. So fewer and fewer labourers were left in the countrysides. In a word, the wars made many of the lands lie waste and plunged the farmers into an abyss of misery.Besides, since the country was becoming weaker and weaker, and the governments were so corrupt and incompetent, the countrysides were naturally short of funds to develop their cultural and educational causes, to improve the medical and health conditions. As a matter of course, the farmers'cultural quality was low and their health state was damnable.In the last part of the main body ,the author talks about the measures the New Gui Clique took to develop agriculture, to alleviate the farmers'burden, but the achievement was limited, because they liked the slogans more than the actions. Actually they did little in the aspect of reducing the farmers'burden. As to the proposition"reducing rent and limiting the quantity of land", it was eventually an empty talk, the farmers obtained little from that.In the conclusion part, the author comprehensively discusses the reasons leading to the farmers'poverty and their heavy burdens in Guangxi during the Republic of China times .And he regards it necessary to pay more attention to the contemporary problems of the farmers'burden ,of the farmers'poverty. The thesis is based on massive historical data, directed by historical materialism and the"seeking truth from facts"principle, the author employ many skills, such as historical comparison method, narration method and so on to write it. More over, from multi-dimensional perspectives---politically, economically, culturally and militarily, he tries hard to systematically expound the historical facts of the heavy burden upon the farmers, of the farmers'poverty in those days and he analyzes all possible reasons. The structure of this thesis is relatively reasonable, and it is clearly arranged. The thesis is written logically and smoothly---to some extent to say. The author presents some new views on some questions. He believes his research is beneficial to a rational review of the farmers'living condition during that period. Taking history as a mirror , we can chart our future path more scientifically.