Research By The National Economic Committee Of The Nanjing National Government (1931-1938)

The National Economic Council,which was a specialized agency that was directly at the mercy of the Nanking National Government.One the one hand,it was responsible for the construction and development of economy.On the other hand,it was called “a total authority” which controlled the national economic construction at that time.There are four factors that can account for the establishment of the committee.First of all,during 1930 s,due to the destructive influence of the world economic crisis as well as the favorable effect of the planned economic policy in the Soviet Union,which aroused people's interest and concern at home and abroad,Nanking National Government tried to carry out the “controlled economy”.What was more,Nanking National Government looked forward to cooperating with International League in terms of the technology of economy,however,which needed a specialized agency to govern and strike the balance between them.Also,the experts of the League of Nations advised China to set up “Economic Committee”.In addition,the finance minister----Ziwen,Song made arrangement about the “cotton loan”,in order to get rid of the finance dilemma and develop the economy,which offered a large sum of constructive funds.Last but not least,both Chiang Kai-Shek and T.V song as well as Kong agreed and supported to set up the establishment of national economic committee because of the internal faction argued with each other in terms of the right of finance.Due to the above four factors,which contributed to the establishment of national economic committee.The Economic Committee had experienced three periods: preparatory period,Soong period,Chiang Kai-Shek respectively.Among them,Soong period as a stage where the constructive activities of national economic committee was in a period of great prosperity.During this period,committee carried out a series of construction work widely in terms of highway,water conservancy,agriculture,cotton,silk,health and other fields.The main decision-making body is the standing committee of economic council,and Wang Jingwei,Sunke,Soong,Kong Xiangxi,Chiang Kai-Shek were the crucial members of the committee.As a matter of fact,Soong was responsible for hosting daily work.The secretariat was the significant executive arm of the committee.Besides,the committee had many branches,including Cotton Industry Control Committee,Silk Improvement Committee,Water Resources Committee,Land Committee and Highway Committee etc.In addition,provincial construction departments,the local water resources committees and all local construction sectors from the whole country belong to the subordinate enforcement.At the same time,the committee was an authority which was responsible for technical cooperation between China and League of Nations.A large number of international experts were invited to supervise the task.Many of the construction careers were guided by the experts who belonged to League of Nations.The committee had made the greatest progress in construction in terms ofhighway.At first,as for the highway construction,its scope expanded from three provinces to seven provinces even to more provinces,including the northwest region highway construction,basically,most of the capital cities connected with each other.However,with obvious military intentions,the highway construction was guided and built under the control of telegraph of Chiang Kai-Shek.The route of construction varied from the Kuo Min Tang to the Communist Party of the battle field,which had exerted severe influence on the highway construction in terms of its economic value.What was worse,most of citizens had few automobiles,which further reduced the highway transportation efficiency.As a total authority of water conservancy construction,the committee had done a lot of work.However,the local water commissions were responsible for the execution to the specific water conservancy projects.The main job of the committee is to make overall plans of water conservancy work throughout the country and provide funding support to them.In addition,the committee had carried out a lot of work and made progress in agriculture,cotton,silk and health fields,especially in cotton and silk fields.From the beginning,the committee was faced with two difficulties: lack of funding and lack of talent.What was worse,Japanese invaders had occupied the northeast region and planned to occupy the north China.However,Chiang Kai-Shek insisted to implement military encirclement and suppression to the Community Party of China.In 1937,the Japanese launched full-scale war of aggression against China,which had greatly affected the construction plan and finance funds.Generally speaking,the committee had made great progress although at that time the social environment was not stable,the committee could still develop the economic construction activities step by step and intentionally.We should think highly of its achievement and hard-working spirits.Nowadays,we further and deeply study the committee,not only can we better understand the political,economic and social situation at that time,but also it's beneficial to illuminate our county economic development today.