Assumption And Practice Of Chinese Gentries' Agricultural Modernization Before And After 1898

Stimulated by the national crisis,a large number of Chinese gentries were involved in agronomy before and after the Wuxu Movement.These gentries include Luo Zhenyu,Wang Kangnian,Sun Yerang,Huang Shaoji,Tang Shouqian,Tan Sitong,Zhang Jian,Yuan Chang,Ma Xiangbo,Zhou Xuexi,Shao Zhang,Chen Handi and so on.The Agricultural Society established by Luo Zhenyu and others in Shanghai in 1896 is undoubtedly the core force of this operation.The Shanghai Agricultural Society founded the Agricultural Journal,which translated Western agricultural books,and made important contributions to spreading advanced agricultural knowledge and promoting agricultural modernization in the late Qing Dynasty.In this regard,the academic community has paid attention.But it is worth noting that in addition to the achievements in agricultural knowledge dissemination,the Shanghai Agricultural Society has endeavored to purchase land in Dongting,Hunan,Qiantang,Zhejiang,Rugao,Jiangsu,Shanghai and other places for land trial planting,and explore the road to Chinese agriculture modernization from agricultural practice.Unfortunately,due to sporadic historical data and difficulties in text interpretation,the historical facts of traditional gentries 'agricultural practices have not been fully recognized by us.This article discusses the establishment and experience of the Shanghai Agricultural Society,analyzes the gentry's assumptions about the agricultural modernization of the late Qing Dynasty and official attitudes and behaviors,especially focusing on the investigation of the Shanghai Agricultural Society's sand acquisition process and management situation,showing the interaction between officials and gentries in sand practice,and describe the impact of the Shanghai Agricultural Society 's sand practice in all parts of the country,revealing its important historical significance.