Research On The Reform Of The County Administration In Anhui Province During The Anti-Japanese War

The reform of the county administration in Anhui Province under the reign of the Nationalist Government had experienced four historic stages:the stage of the local autonomy implementation, the stage of the performance Pao-chia system under the "bandit suppression" system, the stage of the reform by New Guixi in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War and the performance of the New Country System.Before the breakout of the Anti-Japanese War, Anhui Province was under the direct rule of the Nationalist Government. In order to fight against the Red Army, the Anhui Province had experienced the conversion from the implementation of the local autonomy to the Pao-chia system. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Anhui Province descended to the war zone. Due to the invasion of the Japanese army and the defects of the "bandit suppression" system, the former county administrative organizations and the grass-root administrations of Anhui Province went to the edge of collapse. In 1938, after controlling the Anhui Province government, the New Guixi initiated a reform towards the country administration of Anhui Province on the basis of the experiences of Guangxi Province, the policies of the National Government and the practical circumstances of Anhui Province. The contents of this reform referred to the erecting of structures and principles of the grass-root organizations, personnel selection and the performance of policies in the county administrative organizations. In the 1940s, the Nationalist Government had pushed the New Country System in Anhui Province. The New County System integrated the autonomy with the Pao-chia system. On the one hand, the Nationalist Government tried to restore the local autonomy. On the other hand, it didn't want to abandon the Pao-chia system. Because the New County System designed by the Nationalist Government had adopted many county administration achievements of the Guangxi Province before the Anti-Japanese War, the effects of the two reform stages during the Anti-Japanese War in Anhui Province had been deepened continuously.In general, through the reforms in Anhui Province during the Anti-Japanese War, the situations in which local tyrants and evil gentry controlled the grass-root administration had changed to some degree. In addition, people's livelihood had been improved and the capacity which local government used to mobilize local people had also been improved. At the same time, the grass-root public opinion expressing organizations and democratic systems had also been developed from scratch. All of these above provided the material and spiritual guarantee for the protracted war and the final victory of Anhui Provincial Government, which was in the enemy's rear areas and blockaded by the Japanese and puppet troops. However, due to the restrictions of various unfavorable factors, the reforms had failed to absolutely eliminate the phenomena of corruption and illegal apportion, which relapsed and even got worse in the late time of the Anti-Japanese War. The grassroots'living conditions hadn't been fundamentally improved and even the exercise of basic democratic rights of the people had also been a mere formality.