A True Portraiture of Peasant

It is the first book I have read about farmers and their life. Although my parents come from a small village in Henan Provence, I have been to the village at least four times from I was born and have some impression on farmers and their life. I cannot introduce it to you systematically. The writer, Hsiao Tung Fu, after a long study on village, not only gives us a comprehensive introduction but also analyzes the development of the village and tells us what it will be in the future. As his tutor said:” Hsiao Tung Fu will be counted as a landmark in the development of anthropological field–work and theory. The book has a number of outstanding merits, each of them marking a new departure.”

Preface

Let us start with a moving story. After the writer graduated from Tsinghua University, he planned to go abroad in summer in that year. But his tutor advised him to investigate in minority nationality areas for one year. He agreed on and went to the Mount. Yao in Guangxi Province with his wife. However, one day they lost their way in winter. He injured and his wife dead because of debris flow. Then he went back his hometown. In his hometown he was invited by his sister to pay a visit to Kaihsienkung, a small town in Jiangsu Province. He felt very sad because of his wife’s dead but he still went to investigate in this town for nearly a month. Although this survey was not planned in advance, he also found many new things which attracted him a lot. He found the law of village’s development and problems which should be overcome.

On the way to Venice, he has two weeks availably. During this time, he sorted out what he got previously in Kaihsienkung and thought a lot about the development of the village. In London School of Economics and Political Science, he told his ideas to his tutor, Malinowski. His tutor thought they were very good ideas and started to guide his thesis writing directly. After thesis defense, the thesis was published and became one of the best books in the aspect of sociology. That is the writing process of the book. On the title page of the book, Hsiao Tung Fu said:” this book is dedicated to my wife Wang Tonghui. She gave up her life for anthropology. Her solemn sacrifice made me have no choice only to follow her forever.”

The writer went back to Kaihsienkung 21 years later. This trip was not happy. He found lots of problems. Because of Cultural Revolution, he was treated unfairly. Finally in 1981, he paid a visit to Kaihsienkung at the third time. This time he was regarded as a rural development specialist. He took much advice about the development of rural industry.

The reason to choose Kaihsienkung

At the beginning of the thesis, the writer told us why he chose a village as his object of study. Village is the smallest functional department in China. As we know, China is one of the oldest and largest countries in the world. So it is difficult to know about China from national or provincial level. A county is made up by numerous villages. Village is also a window. You can know about the countries through it. In a sense the more you know about the village, the more you know about the country.

Except the reason that Kaihsienkung is near his hometown, there are three reasons why he chose Kaihsienkung. Firstly, it is one of the important centers of domestic silk industry in China. The village is a representative example of the process of industrial revolution in China. We can know the influence of international trade directly by observing whether the villager live a better life. Secondly, due to the excellent natural resources, agriculture has developed to a high level. As we know, agriculture will develop from low to high. But when it has developed to a high level what will happen next? To find what will happen is a meaningful task. Lastly, the water traffic is widespread used in this area. Because of the waterways network, there is a special relationship between urban and rural areas. We can study the water transport system through it.

Family-- a microcosm of society

Home is the most basic elements in rural areas. When I read this chapters, I not only know how they work together but also feel their love with each other. The most common type is a family with a pair of married couples as the core, including several paternal relatives dependent on this home.

The size of family depends on two opposing forces. One is a combined strength and another is a scattered force. They extended their forces by affinity. In this village, marriage is a very formal and rigorous process. People's marriage in here accord to the order of the parents and the suggestions of a match-maker strictly. Thus, there is not a marriage proposal. The children has no freedom of marriage. It has been set by their parents when they're young. And the people would like to arrange marriage in one family, so the marriage between cousins is very common phenomenon. Because it can promote the development of the family. In this marriage, the woman’s status is not equal. A lot of people are strict with women and they emphasis on reproduction quite a lot. That is why you can see a "young wife" phenomenon. They also thought reproducing was a responsibility of being a human. It was only way to repay their parents for their parenting through their children.

Meanwhile, children played a very important on keeping a stable family. Economic value of child is also important. Children started to work when they were about ten years old. As a boy, he should cut grass to feed sheep and as a girl, she should do housework and reel silk. When their parents are too old to work, they should be support them, especially for boys.

Because they attached great importance to future generations, they might do something to protect their babies although it may look like a little strange. Mother had a clear responsibility before their babies were born. They expect mother's good behavior could affect the children's personality. As for father, he was only asked not to sleep with his wife. It was thought he would cause an adverse effect on their child if he had sex with his wife. At that time, infant mortality was high. Parents were afraid of their child’s death. Local had a superstition of ghosts. They thought ghost would deprive of the child's life, especially the children who was doted by parents.

When the baby was one month old, his uncle would give him a nickname such as dog, cat, and monk and so on. They want to show to the ghost that nobody love this baby. They believed that the ghost liked to do bad things. If he found the child was the cold shoulder, it was unnecessary to deprive his life.

There is another way to protect their children. They believed that a man who had lots of children had a strong ability to against the ghost. So they gave him the children and let him pretend to foster. It not only cheat the ghost but also really benefit of their children. The man who had lots of kids, no matter whether he has a strong spirt, had much money and a high prestige. Their kids build a relationship with him in this way. The children will have economic status and high social status. As the rich man, he also like to pretend to foster the children. He thinks it shows that he has a high reputation and he will get a better lucky in the future. No matter what reasons, the love of parents will never change. No matter what they did, they want their children could have a good and happy life. Because of love, they avoid to dote their children. Under their cold faces is parents’ appreciation. They always hid their love carefully.

When their kids become older, the parents play a more important role. In a sense, child is a microcosm of the family. Parents are the first teacher we met and they told us lots of basic knowledge. They told us how to become a true man. People always say someone is like his father. It does not just means that he looks like his father. It always means he has the same style as his father.

Besides that, parents always made some decision without discussion with their children. In this book, the writer gives us an example. It will cause a huge impact on the man. That is marriage. Marriage is arranged by the parents and is subject to the arrangement of their parents. Talking about their marriage is considered to be inappropriate and shame. The bride and bridegroom don’t know each other before the marriage. After the engagement, they also try to avoid seeing each other. Before the marriage, there will be three steps. The first step: the matchmaker should know the birthday of the girl. She writes it on a red paper using a special way. It can describe any day with eight words. Then the matchmaker send the paper to the boy’s family. The boy’s parents never refuse to accept the red paper (at least pretend not to refuse). A common family with a boy always receives several red paper, so their parents can make a choice.

The second step: the boy’s mother will find a fortune teller. He will introduce the advantages and disadvantages of every girl and let the customer to show her true attitude smoothly. Then he will let her make a decision. It is very difficult to make a rational choice thing. No girl is perfect. So it's easy to make mistakes. The fortune teller is not only act as a tool for decision. At the same time, he also can be used as put the responsibility of the mistake to the will of God in a way. If the marriage is not happy, it is fate. This attitude actually helps to maintain the relationship between husband and wife. But you must understand what really play the important role of the selected factors is the personal preferences of the boy's parents firstly. But it always pretend that is God's decision.

The last step: When a girl is selected, matchmaker will persuade the girl’s parents to accept engagement. According to the custom, the girl’s mother should refuse at first. But as long as there are no other competitors.  For an excellent matchmaker, it is not difficult to make the girl‘s parents agree with the boy’s parents. The next is a long-term negotiation by both sides. The girl's parents raised high dowry requirements, the boy's parents said it was too much and it was difficult to accept. A heated negotiation has a double meaning. It is a struggle between mother’s love and patriliny. Both sides reflect their true mind. Its importance lies in the fact that the dowry which provided by both parents is the material basis for the new family. As for their family, it is also a material basis of regular updates

Daily Life

In the daily life of the villagers of Kaihsienkung, in order to carter to people's needs, culture provides a variety of means to obtain many things which can make consumer happier. But it has also ruled and limit the people's requirements. Because culture is not formed in one day. It has developed for a long time. It rules the people's basic behavior and in the vast majority of cases it is right. So it is not easy changed by someone and it has a certain control effect on the consumption of the villagers.

The houses in the village are designed with a main room. The main room is the largest area of housing. For example, it is generally used for sericulture labor, silk reeling, threshing place, etc. When the weather is cold or raining outside. It is a place to guest or store tools, agricultural products as well as for the ancestor place. The kitchen is behind the main room, the room size is only 1/4 of the main room. The stove and the chimney accounted for 1/3 of the kitchen. The place which is close to the chimney is a small platform being used to sacrifice the kitchen god. Then the next is bedroom. There are one or two beds in each room. Married couples with children under the age of seven or eight sleep in a bed. After a few years he will have his own bed in his parents’ room. Then the unmarried boys about sixteen years old move to sleep in the main room. Girls before marriage had been sleeping in her parents’ room. She is never allowed to sleep in the main room. Because any women were not allowed to sleep in the houses which have the memorial tablets of their ancestors.

It should be noted here that Kaihsienkung is one of the important centers in Chinese domestic silk industry. Mr. Hsiao Tung Fu in the book mentioned it in the first chapter of the seventh part: the first spring after the wedding, the new daughter-in-law must pass a test like these. The bride's mother gave her a special graine which were picked out in advance. She was able to raise the silkworm by her own ability. If she feed them well and shows her skills, she can win the favor of her mother-in-law. It is considered as an important moment in the life of a girl, which can determine her status in her husband's home. Silk is not only on behalf of a tool to make a living but also a skill of art. It represents a girl’s highest level of competence. Because they attaches great importance on silk. They make the silk industry which belongs to the family handicraft industry in ancient gradually to the transformation of industrialization production.

Mr. Hsiao Tung Fu made a detailed introduction on each link of rural farming and sideline. It makes me marvel at these technologic and accurate agricultural practices. Each set of procedures for this system requires an amazing coordination. Let me give you an example like irrigation. Because of the waters in the periphery of the field, it must build Irrigation canals. What the most important thing is that after the outer layer of the irrigated land completing irrigation, the owner of this land must consciously close the water outlet to let the inner pieces of field complete irrigation. In order to make sure each piece of field can complete irrigation uniformity, the ridge of field must be the same height. If there is a field for private water storage and reduce the height of plots, he will be condemned. Even if in the drought season, the rules of the individual is not easy to break. This rule was no need any administrative departments to enforce. It is the result of self-discipline. Self-discipline is one of the conditions of the autonomous region.

In the village, in addition to production, the main activities of people are parties, and some religious and ritual activities.

These details reflect the village based on agricultural production, but there are also some other professional development. Custom culture passes from one generation to another generation. After continuous inheritance and development, the villagers still retain a lot. These are important data for our study of the economic and cultural life of the land.

Postscript

After reading this book, I thought lots of problem which I have never thought. What does the village look like in the future? Will there be a new land allocation way? What is kind of life which the farmer will have in the future? What is the most important is how about culture. The traditional culture in village will be die or not? When I am reading this book, there has been some concepts which I do not know such as “young wife”: the girl’s parents send the girl to the boy’s family as his wife when the girl is very young. Her mother in law as her mother bring her up. Maybe it is hard to find now.

I admit that there are something out of time in village culture. In the new time, we should create our new culture. But there are still a lot of things we should inherit and develop. That is a special feeling including warm, safe, comfortable and satisfied. With the development of economy, more and more people become rich and most of us can earn more money or have more chance to earn more money. Are we become happier? I think many people’s answer is no. We become busier. Every day when we wake up, the first thing we think it is not “Look, what a nice day!” We always think is “Oh, my god, I still have a lot of things to do and tomorrow is deadline.” So I believe we need the village culture. It is a true life. I think it is also the reason why many people want to return the village. Because they are tired and feel boring.

Peasant Life in China is a good book. It let us know about the society especially the life in village. China is a large agricultural country, to understand the countryside is equivalent to understand China. I think in the future, more and more people will turn back to the village. Because they can find their true home in the village. As for me, I not only know more about life of the peasant, but also know we should collaborate with each other. We should help others as much as we can. The most important is that you should always be happy although you have a busy day. Maybe eating with family numbers is one of the happiest things in the world.

2016-01-03

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