The Origins Of Jiaoyang Peasant Movement: An Analysis Of Social History

The topic of the thesis is about the origins of the Jiaoyang Peasant Movement which happened in Shanghang County in 1928.Jiaoyang Peasant Movement which is one of the Four Major Uprisings of Western Fujian and considered as a communistic peasant movement has an important role in the History of the Chinese Communist Party.However,the major subject of the thesis is not the Jacobinical outside Communist Cadres,but the Local Cadres who looked more like the traditional gentries and the common people who were often overlooked.Moreover,the thesis does not only discuss the uprising itself,but also the social structure behind the event and the "moral economy",which leads the common people's notions of justice and authority,or rather the relationship between the uprising and social history of Jiaoyang district.I want to listen to the resonance between the two—between the unique moment and the broader social history—to interpret the era that produced them both.How to understand the origins of Jiaoyang Peasant Movement? I look for the answers in the social changes of Jiaoyang since the Ming dynasty.Chapter 1 is established for the preface which is about the aim and meaning for the choice of this subject,the academic retrospection,research ideas and the major resources.Chapter 2, 3 and 4 discuss the three topics:substance,lineage and public affairs respectively,and take on the socioeconomic situation,network of social organizations and the tradition of gentry in society of Jiaoyang from the Ming Dynasty to Republican Period.I make attempt to find out the socioeconomic backgrounds and organizational basis for the Jiaoyang Peasant Movement.Chapter 5 narrates the campaigns in the stages of Jiaoyang Peasant Movement,since the movement of overthrowing the governance of militarists,local lords and evil gentries in the National Revolution.And it specially clarifies the enemies and supporters of the uprisings.Chapter 6 classifies and compares the images of three local governors,who are Heynan,the magistrate of Shanghang County in Guangxu era,Lan Yutian and Guo Fengming who were the local militarists of the prefecture of Tingzhou in the Republican Period.There are two means for the local governors to approach for the authority in the common people. One depended on the degrees they owned through the imperial examination;the other was based on the secret societies and military force.The common people had a set of standards for estimating the local governors to them own:the good governors concern about the livelihood of the common people and use the financial resources of the people sparingly all the time,but the bad governors were always in the opposite.What the people fight against was not the role of order,but the bad governors.Just the value in people's mind became the intrinsic motivation of the occurrence of uprisings. Through summarizing all the Chapters above,Chapter 7 presents the characteristics of the Jiaoyang Peasant Movement,and makes attempt to locate its position in all of peasant movements in the 1920s to 1930s,by comparing it with the other peasant movements in Western Fujian.