East Rural Community Studies In Modern Times

Chinese rural community research is a most critical topic in the category of regional society and economy history. Compared with north China, rural people of east lived in the form of clan. In modern China, counties of east began to change over their course by virtue of geography distinct advantages. They altered from kindred consanguinity to rural community. The manifestations could be summed up as follows: from the aspect of culture and education, ancestor worship had a contest with local gods, and new learning blended with the old. For example, numerous clan temples were transformed into contemporary schools. The authority of patriarch decreased partly due to the appearance of new grass-roots organizations, and the fact may contribute to the alteration that clan fields fell to on all official lists. The weakness of patriarch’s authority would ease the inequality among the clan. Besides, many of rural women gradually got rid of the male superiority by methods of working in factories or joining army. Undoubtedly, it weakened the traditional low view of women in family(which is the essential component). This paper analyzes the counties of Eastern China to the framework of sociocultural, political and economic factors. What is more, Cun Qian Village is taken as an inspection subject from the microcosmic aspect.The Hu family was the biggest clan in this village, which renewed itself in modern times. Hu surname ones established the first rural school in Wu xi. At the same time, a great part of clan fields were used for the development of rural school, so fewer clan fields were left for Hu family. Apart that, a couple of women intellectual were generated from this family, as well as women joining up military, who called on women to walk out of the family and to join in society. In this paper, the feature of the rural community of Eastern China is discussed from macroscopic and microscopic aspect. Companied with the foundation of PRC, kindred society fell apart. In recent years, clan activities emerge in rural regions such as in the provinces of Jiang Xi and Fu Jian. This phenomenon refers to native land complex and the pursuit of warmness rather than the return of clan.