On The Managerial System Of Jiangxi Guild-hall Of Beijing (1915-1956)

Combining the specific backgrounds and the evolution of the administrative managerial system of the guild-halls, this paper mainly explores the regulatory system of the Jiangxi Guild-hall of Beijing of different stages from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the early periods of the Republic of China, the middle and later years of the Republic of China, the early years of the People’s Republic of China, and tries to uncover the guild-hall’s institutional evolutions and features of the times which bases on the local historical materials of archives and county annals.In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gentries from Jiangxi built almost 80 guild-halls. All these guild-halls adopted the pattern of “annual director” and “footman”, which appears to be quite non-governmental and independent. While some new features emerged from the early years of the Republic of China to the beginning years of the People’s Republic of China in the managerial system of the guild-hall, and there was a trend of administration and diversity.During the early years of the Republic of China, both the Beiyang Regime and the government of the Republic of China energized the management of guild-halls. The capital municipal hall and police office instituted The Regulations for the Management of Guild-halls, and which was revised from time to time. In face of government’s changing of policy, the Jiangxi Guild-hall of Beijing devised new ways of management which take the form of the board-council system. In the middle and later years of the Republic of China, more changes came to the management system. Under the occupation of the Japanese, though the false government urged every province to establish custodial committees of public properties to manage the estates of guild-halls, the Jiangxi Guild-hall did not particularly form the “the Custodial Committee of Public Properties in Beijing”, instead, it organized “the Public Properties Custodial Committee” through the Jiangxi Association of fellow townsmen which act on its behalf. After the anti-Japanese War was over, Beiping municipal government issued The Regulations for the Management of Guild-halls of Beiping and Notice to Guild-halls, from now on, the guild-halls in the capital entered into the stage of reorganization. During the later years of the Republic of China, under the strict supervision of the government, the Jiangxi Guild-halls of Beiping was reorganized, the institution and revision of the regulations, the establishment of managing body and the makings of the rules for boarding all had new characteristics.Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the government demanded that all the associations of fellow townsmen form property regulatory committees to manage guild-hall respectively, and the Bureau of Civil Affairs became the executive body. Under such circumstances, “the Property Regulatory Committee of Jiangxi Guild-hall” was formed, it devoted to the takeover of provincial, prefecture, and county guild-hall estates on one hand, and the paying of taxes, the pressing tenant to pay rent, the fixing of rent, and maintenance on the other. However, as the committee could not overcome its limitation, the political movement like Three Antis and the Five Antis movement, and the Three Great Remould interrupt the process, the Bureau of Civil Affairs transfer the management of guild-halls of every level to the Bureau of Municipal Estate Management, thus the Property Regulatory Committee of Jiangxi Guild-hall finally came to an end.