Hunan Secret Society And Acquaintance Society In Modern Times

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,immigrants moved to Hunan on a large scale.These immigrants tended to live in groups,presenting the form of small settlements and large settlements in space,scattered in all parts of Hunan.Most of the immigrants had the origin of the same surname,clan and hometown,and maintained the faith and custom of their hometown.The nature of immigrants was remarkable.A "human relationship" society,linked by blood and geographical relations,gradually stabilized in Hunan through day-to-day work and mutual familiarity.Since the late Qing Dynasty,great changes has taken place in all aspects of Hunan society,showing a "chaotic" situation.Among them,the uprising of the secret societies initiated by the people at the bottom of the society for self-help and mutual assistance was particularly prominent.From small to large,they spread all over the area,impacting the modern Hunan Acquaintance Society,destroying the old social order,becoming a microcosm of the social changes in modern Hunan,and profoundly affecting the development of modern Hunan society.This paper reviews the general situation of the secret society in Hunan in modern times,combing the development of the secret society from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.It also holds that an Acquaintance Social organization different from the former has been formed in the process of development.Although secret society has drawn value concepts from the traditional society,such as brotherhood,acquaintance relationship,local concept and Jianghu righteousness,it breaks the order principle of the original secret society from many aspects with its rise and banditry development,ranging from organizational structure,order principle to psychological change,which had a profound impact on the development and change of modern Hunan society.This paper is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which clarifies the reason and significance of the topic,the research status,research methods,innovation and shortcomings.The second chapter summarizes the general situation of the secret society in modern Hunan.The social characteristics of modern Hunan are blood relationship,geographical relationship and self identification.Besides,the order principles of the secret society is briefly discussed,and the human relationship,homesickness and etiquette are considered to be the important order principles in the acquaintance society.The third chapter narrates the rise of the secret society in Hunan and the acquaintance society in the late Qing Dynasty.Under the background of social anomie that the people at the bottom of the society are unable to survive,they choose to join the secret society,whose behavior had a certain impact on the order principle of the acquaintance society in Hunan;the local authority has been weakened;and the clan power has been divided.At the same time,a different acquaintance society had formed within the Party.The fourth chapter expounds the interaction and influence between the secret society banditization and the acquaintance society in Hunan during the period of the Republic of China.During this period,the secret society in Hunan gradually began to combine with bandits,which resulted in the phenomenon of "banditization" of the secret society in Hunan and "guild party" of bandits.Its behavior had a certain impact on the Acquaintance Society in Hunan.The fifth Chapter explains the change of the acquaintance society in modern Hunan.This chapter is conclusion,which looks at the interaction between the secret society in Hunan and Hunan Acquaintance Society from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,analyzing the changes of modern Hunan Acquaintance Society from three aspects: social organization structure,social order principle,social psychology and atmosphere.