What Is Being Adult? Discussion And Practice During The Nanjing National Government Period (1927-1949)

Adulthood means individual maturity in society,but the meaning behind different social maturity is often different.As a concept of daily use,adulthood affects the division of mature stages in various fields of society.The division of adulthood is directly related to age,and the age boundary has become a common social standard for judging adulthood.In Modern changing China,the requirements of society for individual maturity have changed,which has aroused scholars’ debate about the age of adulthood.In law.adulthood means having full capacity,enjoying complete rights and fulfilling obligations entrusted by society.The government promulgated the rights and obligations policies of adulthood,such as the right to vote,the right to military service and the right to examination,to regulate people’s life.People often fight for interests with their rights,while the government often imposes responsibilities with its obligations.In the traditional social law and etiquette,not only the definition of age of majority was different,but also different rights and obligations of age of majority were regulated.The revision of the new law in the late Qing and the early Republic of China resulted in the confusion of age of majority in civil law and criminal law,different age of majority in Dali court cases,and different age of majority in virtual and real years.In terms of ability,there were new development of Capacity for an Adult in aspects including marriage,law and education.The concept of adulthood in the period of Nanjing National Government was more used in age division,education and the policy of rights and obligations.In the division of age,scholars mainly focused on two aspects:which was more suitable for the age of 16 or 20 as the year of becoming an adult,and whether the system of marriage and adulthood was suitable for social development.There was a consensus that the legal adult depends on the individual’s ability to act and the calculation method of adult age.At the beginning,the government established that the age of majority in criminal law was 16 years old and that in civil law was 20 years old.After that,the government constantly revised the age of majority in the law and established the system of marriage of majority in relatives of civil law.With the change of the age of majority in government policies,the age of majority in all fields of society hadgradually changed from 20 or 16 to 18,and some of them remain the same.The system of marriage age and marriage maturity established in the chapter of relatives of civil law also has an impact on marriage and engagement.In government policies,the government issued adult related policies to regulate the rights and obligations of the people.Scholars publicized the concept of rights and obligations on the public platform,discussed the provisions of rights and obligations in the treaty and the constitution,promoted the implementation of the treaty and hindered the promulgation of the draft constitution.The government established the principle of rights and obligations in the Constitution and promoted the concrete implementation of rights and obligations in the policy.In addition to the fixed rights and obligations,there were also many temporary rights and obligations.Based on the traditional concepts of"righteousness" and "benefit",the society understands the concept of rights and obligations,and considers whether the rights and obligations are balanced on the macro level.In the micro policy,people make different responses based on their own economic factors.In adult education,scholars emphasized that literacy is the foundation of concept training and sound personality.The sense of responsibility,the concept of rights and obligations and the ability are the necessary conditions for adulthood.The government has issued corresponding education policies,instilled a sense of responsibility in the courses of common sense and citizenship,cultivated people’s political ability,and shaped a sound citizen.The effect of political education in society was limited due to the variety of reacting of ordinary people to policies.The effect of political education in society is limited.