Research On The Changes Of The Hunan Rural Society In Modern Times

The development of Hunan rural society from 1840 to 1949, had undergone a transformation from traditional to a modern agricultural society. This was a kind of self-improvement and adjustment had made in order to adapt to a variety of changes in the internal and external environment. Things always have to go through a transformation from quantitative change to qualitative change, while the process may be long may also be short. As to the Modern Hunan rural society, it had gradually become world renowned from a desolate region which was ever called the place of Manyi. "China will not dump so long as Xiang people are not down" , " No Xiang soldiers, no army" are sayings about Hunan, which are resulted from many facts and reasons, including the accompanyment by violent revolutions and the dramatic changes in the promotion. Overall, the changes of Hunan rural society is not reflected in economy, also reflected in political area, culture, religion, and so on. However, the Hunan is the hinterland of the country, so as to the outside world things, it made slower adjustments and response than the coastal area. Especially the changes in culture, religion and the internal changes in the spiritual civilization of Hunan rural areas were lagging behind. The evolution of Hunan rural society from 1840 to 1949 can be divided into several different stages, including a number of special periods which played a vital role on the modernization of Hunan rural society, which also have been producing an effect can not be ignored to the development of the modern rural areas in Hunan. Thus the research on the modern rural society of Hunan, especially on the several special periods has great significance on the rural construction, which can also provide a guiding to the construction. In this paper, the author from the points of view of certain changes in the modern rural society of Hunan, selectively elaborated on several more important ones, tried to stated this issue clearly through discussions on them.The thesis is consist of six parts:1. Introduction: This part gives a simple explanation on the basis and significance of the main topics of this study as well as the status quo and the innovation and weaknesses of the thesis.2. The Second Part: This part illustrates the definition of rural society and the general characteristics of the traditional rural society of Hunan. And contrasts the basic outlook of the traditional rural society with the modern rural society of Hunan.3. The Third Part: This part illustrates the evolution and the change characteristics ofmodern Hunan rural society. This is the main body of the article. Through the research on the changes of Hunan rural society of nearly 100 years from 1840 to 1949 , the author divided it into four periods: Firstly, the time before and after the Opium War (1840 - 1865), when Hunan rural society almost made no response to the political changes; secondly, 1865 - 1911, the time experiencing the Sino-Japanese War, the Revolution of 1911 and a series of revolutionary changes, when the traditional Hunan rural society shaked. These changes can not be called crisis as it did not shake the foundations of the traditional feudal society. But compared to the first period, at that time the traditional rural society of Hunan was already precarious; thirdly, 1911 - 1937, the Hunan rural society experienced final turn from the old to the new and completed some social changes. During this period Hunan rural society had undergone intense changes not only in the external economic, political, cultural areas but also in the internal culture, religion and some other aspects. This stage is the most critical period when the Hunan rural society experienced a complete change; forthly, 1937 - 1949, the rural society in Hunan made some improvements on the basis of the previous stage. Until that time the modernization process of Hunan rural society had basically reached a peak, so the research on the Hunan rural society come to an end.4. The Fourth Part, studies the root of the changes of modern Hunan rural society , from the capitalism, the intrinsic cultural values of the rural areas and the support from the social system , as well as the impact from the surrounding environment , to give a fundamental reason for the changes.5. The Fifth Part, studies the changes of modern Hunan rural society and the social changes, briefly intoduces some advice for the stable development of the new Hunan rural society after the liberation and for the reform.6. Conclusion, gives a summary of the research on this subject and upgrades the whole content.