Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
By comparing peasant revolutions in Hunan and Jiangxi between 1926 and 1934, Revolutions as Organizational Change offers a new organizational perspective on peasant revolutions. Utilizing newly ...
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By comparing peasant revolutions in Hunan and Jiangxi between 1926 and 1934, Revolutions as Organizational Change offers a new organizational perspective on peasant revolutions. Utilizing newly available historical materials in the People’s Republic of China in the reform era, it challenges the established view that the great Chinese revolution of the twentieth century was a revolution “made” by the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP). The book begins with a puzzle presented by the two peasant revolutions. While outside mobilization by the CCP was largely absent in Hunan, peasant revolutionary behaviors were spontaneous and radical. In Jiangxi, however, despite intense mobilization by the CCP, peasants remained passive and conservative. This study seeks to resolve the puzzle by examining the roles of communal cooperative institutions in the making of peasant revolutions. Historically, peasant communities in many parts of the world were regulated by powerful cooperative institutions to confront environmental challenges. This book argues that different communal organizational principles affect peasants’ perceptions of the legitimacy of their communal orders. Agrarian rebellions can be caused by peasants’ attempts to restructure unjust and illegitimate communal organizational orders, while legitimate communal organizational orders can powerfully constrain the mobilization by outside revolutionary agents such as the CCP.Less
By comparing peasant revolutions in Hunan and Jiangxi between 1926 and 1934, Revolutions as Organizational Change offers a new organizational perspective on peasant revolutions. Utilizing newly available historical materials in the People’s Republic of China in the reform era, it challenges the established view that the great Chinese revolution of the twentieth century was a revolution “made” by the Chinese Communist Party (the CCP). The book begins with a puzzle presented by the two peasant revolutions. While outside mobilization by the CCP was largely absent in Hunan, peasant revolutionary behaviors were spontaneous and radical. In Jiangxi, however, despite intense mobilization by the CCP, peasants remained passive and conservative. This study seeks to resolve the puzzle by examining the roles of communal cooperative institutions in the making of peasant revolutions. Historically, peasant communities in many parts of the world were regulated by powerful cooperative institutions to confront environmental challenges. This book argues that different communal organizational principles affect peasants’ perceptions of the legitimacy of their communal orders. Agrarian rebellions can be caused by peasants’ attempts to restructure unjust and illegitimate communal organizational orders, while legitimate communal organizational orders can powerfully constrain the mobilization by outside revolutionary agents such as the CCP.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 5 examines the organizational orders of Hunan rural communities. Community response to the social environment of peasant rebellions and state breakdown in the mid-19th century led to the ...
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Chapter 5 examines the organizational orders of Hunan rural communities. Community response to the social environment of peasant rebellions and state breakdown in the mid-19th century led to the militarization of the communal organizational context through a widespread militia system. The roles, functions, and structures of Hunan community militia organizations are described. The chapter also examines how community militia organizations in the late 19th century transformed themselves into an instrument of class rule by the landed elites and assumed a wide range of powers in the economic and political affairs of communities.Less
Chapter 5 examines the organizational orders of Hunan rural communities. Community response to the social environment of peasant rebellions and state breakdown in the mid-19th century led to the militarization of the communal organizational context through a widespread militia system. The roles, functions, and structures of Hunan community militia organizations are described. The chapter also examines how community militia organizations in the late 19th century transformed themselves into an instrument of class rule by the landed elites and assumed a wide range of powers in the economic and political affairs of communities.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 1 of the book presents the two peasant revolutions under study as a puzzle. The author first builds four criteria for measuring the intensity of peasant revolutions: the sources of ...
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Chapter 1 of the book presents the two peasant revolutions under study as a puzzle. The author first builds four criteria for measuring the intensity of peasant revolutions: the sources of revolutionary dynamics, the scope of peasant participation, the control of local-level revolutionary organizations, and revolutionary outcomes. I then briefly discuss the origins and backgrounds of the Hunan and Jiangxi peasant revolutions and systematically compare them using the four criteria to show that they present an interesting puzzle whose solution will extend our knowledge of agrarian revolutions.Less
Chapter 1 of the book presents the two peasant revolutions under study as a puzzle. The author first builds four criteria for measuring the intensity of peasant revolutions: the sources of revolutionary dynamics, the scope of peasant participation, the control of local-level revolutionary organizations, and revolutionary outcomes. I then briefly discuss the origins and backgrounds of the Hunan and Jiangxi peasant revolutions and systematically compare them using the four criteria to show that they present an interesting puzzle whose solution will extend our knowledge of agrarian revolutions.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 3 advances an alternative organizational approach to the study of agrarian revolutions. It first discusses the role of formal organizations in agrarian communities. It then presents a ...
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Chapter 3 advances an alternative organizational approach to the study of agrarian revolutions. It first discusses the role of formal organizations in agrarian communities. It then presents a comparative history of peasant communities with powerful cooperative organizations in different parts of the world, including Europe, Russia and Japan. The next section examines how the different origins of community cooperative institutions--imposed cooperation by lords or external authority and voluntary cooperation by peasants of roughly equal resources--resulted in distinctively different communal organizational principles along four dimensions. The last section of the chapter hypothesizes about the relationship between communal organizational principles and peasants’ rebellious tendencies.Less
Chapter 3 advances an alternative organizational approach to the study of agrarian revolutions. It first discusses the role of formal organizations in agrarian communities. It then presents a comparative history of peasant communities with powerful cooperative organizations in different parts of the world, including Europe, Russia and Japan. The next section examines how the different origins of community cooperative institutions--imposed cooperation by lords or external authority and voluntary cooperation by peasants of roughly equal resources--resulted in distinctively different communal organizational principles along four dimensions. The last section of the chapter hypothesizes about the relationship between communal organizational principles and peasants’ rebellious tendencies.
Chloë Starr
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300204216
- eISBN:
- 9780300224931
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300204216.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The great growth in the Chinese church and what this might mean for a future China has been the source of much recent media debate as the world has begun to catch up with the development of Chinese ...
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The great growth in the Chinese church and what this might mean for a future China has been the source of much recent media debate as the world has begun to catch up with the development of Chinese Christianities over the past three decades. Chapter 8 assesses how state regulation has attempted to channel and control that growth and analyzes the three broad categories of writing that have emerged out of that attempt, in the form of official church, unofficial church, and academic writings. While “theology” proper designates the output of the state seminaries in an official Chinese construct of categories, the chapter also addresses the burgeoning theological writings in academia and outside the state church.Less
The great growth in the Chinese church and what this might mean for a future China has been the source of much recent media debate as the world has begun to catch up with the development of Chinese Christianities over the past three decades. Chapter 8 assesses how state regulation has attempted to channel and control that growth and analyzes the three broad categories of writing that have emerged out of that attempt, in the form of official church, unofficial church, and academic writings. While “theology” proper designates the output of the state seminaries in an official Chinese construct of categories, the chapter also addresses the burgeoning theological writings in academia and outside the state church.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 4 examines the organizational orders of Jiangxi rural communities. Community response to the environmental imperatives of a “frontier society” in a resource-poor region resulted in a ...
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Chapter 4 examines the organizational orders of Jiangxi rural communities. Community response to the environmental imperatives of a “frontier society” in a resource-poor region resulted in a distinctive, corporate lineage-centered communal organizational context. The institutions, functions, and internal structures of Jiangxi lineage organizations are analyzed. Drawing on research by anthropologists and social historians, I discuss how strong corporate lineage institutions critically defined and mediated inter-class relationships.Less
Chapter 4 examines the organizational orders of Jiangxi rural communities. Community response to the environmental imperatives of a “frontier society” in a resource-poor region resulted in a distinctive, corporate lineage-centered communal organizational context. The institutions, functions, and internal structures of Jiangxi lineage organizations are analyzed. Drawing on research by anthropologists and social historians, I discuss how strong corporate lineage institutions critically defined and mediated inter-class relationships.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 6 draws on the findings of the previous two chapters to explain the different peasant revolutionary patterns in Hunan and Jiangxi and how these patterns were shaped by communal social ...
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Chapter 6 draws on the findings of the previous two chapters to explain the different peasant revolutionary patterns in Hunan and Jiangxi and how these patterns were shaped by communal social structures. The rural organizational orders in Hunan and Jiangxi enjoyed different legitimacy among peasants. Differences in ideology, source of elites and decision-making rules, control mechanisms, and interest redistribution resulted in different perceptions of the justice and fairness of communal social structures. I argue that agrarian revolution can be caused by peasants’ attempts to restructure unjust and unfair communal organizational orders and establish new rules for community cooperation. This is what happened in Hunan. In communities with legitimate organizational orders, as in Jiangxi, it is difficult for agrarian revolutions to emerge, even with strong mobilization from outside revolutionary organizations.Less
Chapter 6 draws on the findings of the previous two chapters to explain the different peasant revolutionary patterns in Hunan and Jiangxi and how these patterns were shaped by communal social structures. The rural organizational orders in Hunan and Jiangxi enjoyed different legitimacy among peasants. Differences in ideology, source of elites and decision-making rules, control mechanisms, and interest redistribution resulted in different perceptions of the justice and fairness of communal social structures. I argue that agrarian revolution can be caused by peasants’ attempts to restructure unjust and unfair communal organizational orders and establish new rules for community cooperation. This is what happened in Hunan. In communities with legitimate organizational orders, as in Jiangxi, it is difficult for agrarian revolutions to emerge, even with strong mobilization from outside revolutionary organizations.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
In Chapter 7 the author elaborates on an organizational theory of agrarian revolution and draws some broader theoretical implications for the study of peasant revolutions. These implications are ...
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In Chapter 7 the author elaborates on an organizational theory of agrarian revolution and draws some broader theoretical implications for the study of peasant revolutions. These implications are fully consistent with the findings of recent comparative studies on revolutions. In general, these studies emphasize the role of non-material factors in the making of revolutions. In particular, they suggest that declining legitimacy of the present political order is crucial in determining peasants’ tendencies toward revolution. Moreover, they tend to emphasize the constraining roles of preexisting social structures of peasant communities and how they affect the success or failure of outside revolutionary organizations. The chapter also reassesses the established interpretations of the Chinese revolution, which tend to emphasize the central importance of the CCP mobilization of the peasant population. These interpretations overlook the importance of preexisting social structures of peasant communities and how they facilitated or impeded the CCP mobilization efforts. The chapter argues that studies of the Chinese revolution must pay due attention to the role of preexisting rural social structures in order to explain the varying outcomes of the CCP revolutionary strategies.Less
In Chapter 7 the author elaborates on an organizational theory of agrarian revolution and draws some broader theoretical implications for the study of peasant revolutions. These implications are fully consistent with the findings of recent comparative studies on revolutions. In general, these studies emphasize the role of non-material factors in the making of revolutions. In particular, they suggest that declining legitimacy of the present political order is crucial in determining peasants’ tendencies toward revolution. Moreover, they tend to emphasize the constraining roles of preexisting social structures of peasant communities and how they affect the success or failure of outside revolutionary organizations. The chapter also reassesses the established interpretations of the Chinese revolution, which tend to emphasize the central importance of the CCP mobilization of the peasant population. These interpretations overlook the importance of preexisting social structures of peasant communities and how they facilitated or impeded the CCP mobilization efforts. The chapter argues that studies of the Chinese revolution must pay due attention to the role of preexisting rural social structures in order to explain the varying outcomes of the CCP revolutionary strategies.
Baohui Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9789888208395
- eISBN:
- 9789888313693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888208395.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 2 reviews existing theories of peasant revolutions, making use of historical and empirical materials from the two revolutions to demonstrate their limitations in regard to explaining the ...
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Chapter 2 reviews existing theories of peasant revolutions, making use of historical and empirical materials from the two revolutions to demonstrate their limitations in regard to explaining the puzzle. These include the Marxist class exploitation thesis, moral economy theory, rational choice theory, and various kinds of structural theories. The general theoretical strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed.Less
Chapter 2 reviews existing theories of peasant revolutions, making use of historical and empirical materials from the two revolutions to demonstrate their limitations in regard to explaining the puzzle. These include the Marxist class exploitation thesis, moral economy theory, rational choice theory, and various kinds of structural theories. The general theoretical strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed.
Corey Kai Nelson Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474421614
- eISBN:
- 9781474449588
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474421614.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book examines how the films of the Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke evoke the affective “felt” experience of China’s contemporary social and economic transformations, by examining ...
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This book examines how the films of the Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke evoke the affective “felt” experience of China’s contemporary social and economic transformations, by examining the class figures of worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual, and entrepreneur that are found in the films. Each chapter analyzes a figure’s socio-historical context, its filmic representation, and its recurring cinematic tropes in order to understand how they create what Raymond Williams calls “structures of feeling” – feelings that concretize around particular times, places, generations, and classes that are captured and evoked in art – and charts how this felt experience has changed over the past forty years of China’s economic reforms. The book argues that that Jia’s cinema should be understood not just as narratives that represent Chinese social change, but also as an effort to engage the audience’s emotional responses during this period of China’s massive and fast-paced transformation.Less
This book examines how the films of the Chinese Sixth Generation filmmaker Jia Zhangke evoke the affective “felt” experience of China’s contemporary social and economic transformations, by examining the class figures of worker, peasant, soldier, intellectual, and entrepreneur that are found in the films. Each chapter analyzes a figure’s socio-historical context, its filmic representation, and its recurring cinematic tropes in order to understand how they create what Raymond Williams calls “structures of feeling” – feelings that concretize around particular times, places, generations, and classes that are captured and evoked in art – and charts how this felt experience has changed over the past forty years of China’s economic reforms. The book argues that that Jia’s cinema should be understood not just as narratives that represent Chinese social change, but also as an effort to engage the audience’s emotional responses during this period of China’s massive and fast-paced transformation.
Anna Ross
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198833826
- eISBN:
- 9780191872204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198833826.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Political History
This chapter introduces the Prussian governments of the post-revolutionary period, situating them within a divided political landscape. The Brandenburg–Manteuffel and Manteuffel Ministries of State ...
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This chapter introduces the Prussian governments of the post-revolutionary period, situating them within a divided political landscape. The Brandenburg–Manteuffel and Manteuffel Ministries of State promoted ambitious reforms to bring stability after years of revolutionary upheaval in Prussia. These ranged from restructurings of criminal justice to the adoption of press management. Similar initiatives could also be seen in other German states in the 1850s and 1860s. Indeed, across Europe, this was a period of innovative state action. The chapter draws our attention to what reform in Prussia can tell us about government and state-building in the post-revolutionary period. It also places the post-revolutionary period within a longer history of transition away from lingering feudal structures, thereby encouraging us to turn back and to turn forward in our analysis of Prussian restructurings.Less
This chapter introduces the Prussian governments of the post-revolutionary period, situating them within a divided political landscape. The Brandenburg–Manteuffel and Manteuffel Ministries of State promoted ambitious reforms to bring stability after years of revolutionary upheaval in Prussia. These ranged from restructurings of criminal justice to the adoption of press management. Similar initiatives could also be seen in other German states in the 1850s and 1860s. Indeed, across Europe, this was a period of innovative state action. The chapter draws our attention to what reform in Prussia can tell us about government and state-building in the post-revolutionary period. It also places the post-revolutionary period within a longer history of transition away from lingering feudal structures, thereby encouraging us to turn back and to turn forward in our analysis of Prussian restructurings.
James A. Flath
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824853709
- eISBN:
- 9780824868741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824853709.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Chapter 5 considers how, in the 20th century, Kong Temple became subject to a modern political discourse. Where it was once oriented toward the past, the temple was now situated within the political ...
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Chapter 5 considers how, in the 20th century, Kong Temple became subject to a modern political discourse. Where it was once oriented toward the past, the temple was now situated within the political and ‘scientific’ space of the nation. Yet the temple continued to create difficulties for those who wished to preserve it, and opportunities for those who desired to destroy the ‘old order’.Less
Chapter 5 considers how, in the 20th century, Kong Temple became subject to a modern political discourse. Where it was once oriented toward the past, the temple was now situated within the political and ‘scientific’ space of the nation. Yet the temple continued to create difficulties for those who wished to preserve it, and opportunities for those who desired to destroy the ‘old order’.
E. Elena Songster
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199393671
- eISBN:
- 9780199393701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199393671.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The year 1976 was monumental for China with the loss of important state leaders, and a tragic earthquake. Amidst all of the government’s active response to a panda starvation scare demonstrates the ...
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The year 1976 was monumental for China with the loss of important state leaders, and a tragic earthquake. Amidst all of the government’s active response to a panda starvation scare demonstrates the importance of this animal to China. A repeat starvation scare in the mid-1980s creates an opportunity to trace the transformation of China from Mao Zedong era to the Deng Xiaoping era by juxtaposing the two panda-starvation scares. The responses to these two scares demonstrate a shift in the perception of nature from one of state ownership to one of popular ownership and illustrate the dramatic increase in international participation in the study of the panda and the efforts to preserve this national treasure.Less
The year 1976 was monumental for China with the loss of important state leaders, and a tragic earthquake. Amidst all of the government’s active response to a panda starvation scare demonstrates the importance of this animal to China. A repeat starvation scare in the mid-1980s creates an opportunity to trace the transformation of China from Mao Zedong era to the Deng Xiaoping era by juxtaposing the two panda-starvation scares. The responses to these two scares demonstrate a shift in the perception of nature from one of state ownership to one of popular ownership and illustrate the dramatic increase in international participation in the study of the panda and the efforts to preserve this national treasure.