Research Into Material Living Conditions Of Farmers In Jizhong During The Thirties Of 20th Century

Material life is the most foundational question that is related to people's survival and development.The study of condition of people's life in a certain period can help to know how the society went on and developed in anther way.Located in the east of Jizhong plain,QingYuan County lay in an important part between Beijing and Tianjin.It was once called by the famous sociologist the place where China's industry and commerce were more developed and the most grate changes had taken place in rural economy.According to the document on Qingyuan County kept in Baoding Archives,dynamic study was given on the consumption of Qingyuan peasants' material life in the 1930s.The study includes three parts;â… the general condition of Qingyuan peasants' life;In the 1930s,most of the peasants' houses were made of earth.The hygiene condition was very poor.Peasants lived mainly on coarse grains,as well as wild vegetables.They seldom used edible oil and ate meat.They used little by-products and condiment.Their clothes were mostly made of woven cloth.They had few bedclothes;seldom did they use oil and coal,to say nothing of cigarettes and wine.The main characteristics were poor housing condition,simple food,casual clothes and daily neccessities.â…¡The analysis of their condition of farmers' income and consumption and living standard:in the 1930s,Qingyuan farmers' material life included:food,clothing,fuel and so on.Based on the quatization and comparison and analysis on the above items,the survey showed:During 1930-1936,the annual average income changed little,sometimes even decreased;while the consumption of daily products slightly increased.According to the standard of Engel's theorem,and by analyzing the proportion of food consumption in living expense,their living standard was absolutely low.In a word,most of the farmers had small annual income and it doomed that the common farmers can only live the most basic life.â…¢The study of factors affecting farmers material life:the level of productivity was stagnant.The peasants were exploited and had pay for usurious loan,they were often robbed and so on.All these held back the rural productivity.Frequent and severe natural disasters as well as the invasion of foreign economy made their living standard stagenant.Qingyuan peasant' material life reflected the life of central HeBei and was almost the same with that of North China.The study shows:The peasants' material life has direct connection withAgricultural productivity and social circumstance and natural conditions also have a great influence on the peasants' life.So in such social circumstance,the peasant's life could only be like this and couldn't be greatly improved.Therefore,it is a system to improve peasants' material life.It needs economic growth and better political situation as well as social harmony.Up to now,it is still a question worth thinking over and dealing with seriously.