The Study On The Self-government At Zhaicheng Village In The Republic Of China

Zhaicheng Village is an ordinary and small village in Ding County,Hebei Province,China.A Chinese gentry in Zhaicheng Village,named Mi Jiansan,was so frustrated with the the imperial examinations that he believed the Confucianism which maintain the ideology of statecraft,and then went back to Zhaicheng Village to get involved in the village affairs management.In the crisis of internal and external crisis situation,the Qing Dynasty had a reform at the end of the Qing Dynasty,which is known as “The New Policies of The Qing Dynasty”,introducing new style education.In 1904,in order to stop gambling,preventing thieves,planting trees and protecting the crops,Mi Jiansan,which was employed as the headmaster in the school encouraging learning,began to establish the new style education to improve the custom and strengthen the management in Zhaicheng Village.Although Mi Jiansan didn't take any post in Zhaicheng Village,he began the rural construction in Zhaicheng Village with his special political and economical status of the village.Mi Digang,Mi Xiaozhou and Mi Jieping,sons of Mi Jiansan,took part in the management of Zhaicheng Village one another in quick succession,especially the Mi Digang who had learned the study of Yan and Li of the Confucianism.When he studied in Japan,he was deeply affected by the Modern Japanese Towns and Village Assembly and then he went back to Zhaicheng Village to promote the construction of the rural autonomy.With the institutional arrangement and the support of Sun Faxu,the headmaster of Dingxian,Mi Digang authentically started the the construction of the rural autonomy in Zhaicheng.He led the villagers to set up a village office as the executive organ and a meeting including the members of the village office as the resolution authority,concentrating on the construction of the political organization,economy and the custom.And then,Zhaicheng Village set up a lot of social groups to assist the village office to develop the education and culture as well as cultivate villages' morality.And in order to make rules of the organization building and village management,Mi Xiaozhou gathered villagers to formulate the Rule Of The OrganizedSystem In Zhaicheng Village.And the Yin Li Xie She,which was set up because of the loan of the education and using the public expense to buy cotton seeds,was known as the first cooperatives in China.In 1920 s or 1930 s,the theory of rural construction,put forward by Liang Shuming,Tao Xingzhi and Yan Yangchu,argued that the way to revival China was to take comprehensive social improvement,beginning with rural construction.And the movement of rural construction was in the making.Chinese Civilians Education Promotion Association,led by Yan Yangchu,settled in Zhaicheng Village as an experimental area of rural construction.Because of it,Zhaicheng Village had changed a lot.Then affecting by the government and Civilians Education Promotion Association,the Rule Of The Organized System In Zhaicheng Village had been modified,such as integrating the social groups and perfecting the system of self-government organization.But the education system changed greatest.The Chinese Civilians Education Promotion Association,aiming at “eliminating illiteracy and being a new citizen”,had a deeply effect of the grassroots rural education in Zhaicheng Village.It changed the layout of schools,taking a direct effect on the culture and education system.It also took a lot of support of elites,money and work.Finally,the ural construction in Zhaicheng Village moved toward the peak with the leadership of gentry,support of government and the settlement of the Chinese Civilians Education Promotion Association.After three decades of the construction of the self-government at Zhaicheng Village,the village was brisk.Although the village went bankrupt under the situation of polity and war,the self-government at Zhaicheng Village was successful.But regularly,it is different between the fact and the ideal.There was a lot of problems during three decades of construction and it can be used as a reference.After over 100 years,there are still many problem of the rural development.The self-government at Zhaicheng Village had been gone,but it is still important,because it is the first place to take rural autonomy.There are still a lot of similarities between the self-government at Zhaicheng Village and the villager autonomy system in China.There are also many problems in the villager autonomy system and we can learnfromthe self-government at Zhaicheng Village to perfect the system and so we can maintain social stability and harmony and promote the socialist construction of democracy at the grass-roots level.