Reflection on Peasants Life in
Reflection on Peasants Life in China
——Situation of China’s Rural Area in Ancient and Contemporary Times
Haokun Du
(Sun Yat-sen University Lingnan College,Guangdong Zhuhai 519000)
Abstract As a masterpiece on anthropology,Peasants Life in China describes the life pattern of peasants living near Lake Tai.The author focused on the way they consume,produce,distribute,trade,and aimed at illustrating the relationship between economics system and specific geography environment.We can see the problems while reforming and the inner motivation of the maintain of the new-coming era.This thesis divides into three parts to illustrate the economics system and analyzes the revolutionary transformation.
Key words Peculiarity and catholicity; Ethics; Ethnic self-identify; Technology development.
Introduction It is complicated to discuss the economic system in China.Fei Xiaotong,the author of Peasants Life in China,selected a town in Kiangsu Province and researched to introduce the system.But as an anthropologist,his research was peculiarity to some extent.A relative big part of the culture in his book is unfamiliar to the majority of Chinese.After reading the book listed above,the catholicity of Chinese rural area’s situation interests me.What are the similarities and differences?After reform and opening-up,have the villages evolved into a new era as the urban cities?The thesis is going to discover the catholicity of the rural area in ancient times and search out for the reasons.And discussion on the new era will be carried out.Therefore,we can have a conclusion on the situation of the peasants and give several suggestions to improve their life pattern.
I.Livelihood under the Guidance of Thoughts
The life of the peasants in ancient times is under the control of the emperor,an appellation referring to the son of the heaven.They were always burdened by a heavy load of tax and lived in a misery way.The thoughts of them can be divided into the loyalty to their monarch,the myth(the superstition in all walks of life),the cohesion under the belief of sire line,the moral behaviors that everyone should obey and the notion on mutual-help within the village.
A.The Myth and Their Faith in the Heaven
From archaeology studies,we are certain that our ancestors developed their faith in the heaven from nearly the beginning of their birth.China is well-known as a nation relied on farming in ancient times,and the destiny of our ancestors was linked to the output of the soil where they sown seeds on.We now know that the output is based on the environment that can be predicted by the signals and the planting tools and method.Back to then,our ancestors believed that the heaven had its own will and they tried to connect with the heaven in order to get a better result of the land.They even found a way out to discover the will of the heaven to identify luck or ill-luck by oracle bones.
“In 1899 there was a flood in the Yuan River which flows near the small village of Hsiao-t’un located in the north-west of An-yang County of Honan Province.The flood caused some layers of earth to crumble,revealing tortoise carapaces and animal bones with inscriptions in ancient Chinese characters.”(Oracle Bones,Matsumaru Michio)
The discovery of the oracle bones soon be deduced to be the remain of royal palace,and the purpose of the bones is further illustrated in Matsumaru Michio’s thesis.
“The object of the divination,as recorded in the inscriptions,may be described as seeking divine guidance on whether or not the royal court should observe certain sacrifices and rites,or engage in wars,or whether the king should act in one way or another.”(Oracle Bones,Matsumaru Michio)
Despite the fact that it was applied in royal palace in the first place,the thought on believing in god rather than technology itself have been rooted in Chinese’s mind since then.We can still find images of gods hanging on the wall in rural area nowadays.There are still a lot of legend stories to be told among the masses.The worship towards the gods and the heaven takes a great part in farming activities and still can be seen in festivals in rural area.
B.The Cohesion under a Sire Line
Patriarchy in ancient times led to a radial connection.The nuclear family consists of the parents and their children.The relationship spread into a wider extent,including the persons who are related to the member of the nuclear family through kinship.They may be unfamiliar with each other,but the family tree,always written to demonstrate how the family members are related to one another,will prove their genetic relevance.In Peasants Life in China,the author referred as “Chia”.The definition of it is somewhat blur,and it’s hard to make it clear.It can be large or small,which depends on the balance of the dual forces.One to combine,one to separate.According to Fei,during its extension,the scope gets larger,and the opportunity that members have their conflicts is bigger,and thus,lead to the division of “Chia” as we find it advisable.
The thought on cohesion under the kinship leads to the so-called”continuity of incense and fire”.Some explain in ethics way,believing that the nurture of the child is motivated in two aspects--the continuity of the line of descent as well as a concrete expression of filial piety by the future father towards his ancestors.And by raising the child,parents ensure their lives,”Children in this sense are insurance for old age”.That explains the one hundred and forty five widows in the village under the investigation have caused no social problems though they can not live on their own resources.
By the bond under the general thought,the peasants feel obliged to the members of the “Chia”,and will always willing to help them out of danger.Sometimes the public opinion will accuse those who let their kinship members in danger without offering their help,and to some extent maintain the balance of this unrewarding action of kindness.But as they may all get into the trouble of poverty due to the reasons like famine and heavy taxes sooner or later,this social custom actually is mutual-benefits.As Chinese feel it cruel to sign a contract,they always tend to talk about consanguinity and friendship.In this way,everyone gets help from others during the hard time and the bond is enhanced.
Details on the efforts to maintain the relationship can be seen in Fei’s book.No conclusion or further illustration will be given in this part.
C.Moral Criterion
The Analects and other masterpieces on Confucianism mainly focus on the moral criterion that everyone needs to follow.Few societies have been as self-consciously moral as the Chinese.
“The basis of moral authority in Chinese society is the notion that moral knowledge is based in reason and that proper behavior is associated with proper thinking.”(Moral Behavior in Chinese Society:A Theoretical Perspective,Richard W.Wilson)
It seems somewhat ridiculous that everyone is obeying the moral criterion which cannot be seen on any kind of law or regulation.But our ancestors made it an undoubted truth that no one can break the custom.Public opinion will despise those who ignore the moral criterion.And under this self-evident truth that is bound to obey since a person’s birth,the village will prove itself a moral society and collective to live in.This notion of being moral no matter what it takes certainly leads to a harmony society and the rural area,which has long been separated from the new knowledge and the great fortune,has abode this morality ever since Dynasty Han.Nowadays,facing the impact brought by the globalization and modernization,rural area is in the danger of oppugning its identity and losing self-control.The days are most probably gone when people were of no interest in making a fortune without moral behaviors.Just as Mitch Meisner said in his essay:
“Perhaps neither sacrifice nor egoism but an apparently neutral efficiency is the ethic to be preferred in China today.True,the general pronouncements of the present leadership (not assuming total unanimity) tend to allow some leeway,even attribute positive value to motives of self-satisfaction of basic desires.At least in the area of perceived benefit in personal income and standard of living these desires have been pent up for a long time.”(Scarcity and Moral Ambiguity in Contemporary China,Mitch Meisner)
This tendency that the boundary between rural area and urban cities is becoming vague announces the collapse of this moral criterion which is beyond description due to its complicated structure.The peasants which are suspecting the useless struggle suffer from the consequences as the development of the technology.They are struggling in the dilemma that whether to hold on to the morality that their ancestors believed in or just give up their principles to exchange the power and fortune that they are dreaming of.The dilemma on moral principles actually can be applied to the majority of the Chinese people,but more apparently shown on the peasants as they are generally poor and lack of knowledge but still fight to change this situation.
Ⅱ.Detail Information on Peasants’ Life
In Fei’s book,the detail information,including the pattern of life style in that certain village of Kiangsu and the huge revolutionary changes,is well illustrated.I have no intention to reorganize his words into another kind of form.As in the beginning of this thesis,I have classified his masterpiece as an exception that do not well applied in most cases of China’s rural area. We will find that statistics of certain area is available but more often than not,the whole nation’s rural area is far from being measurable.As customs and traditions vary from place to place,the only way for us is to find their catholicity and get a more general but indefinite conclusion.
A.Time in the Past——Peasants Life in Ancient Times
Inheritance takes up a large proportion of peasant’s life as the life expectancy was quite small and the continue in the family(so-called “incense and fire”) was emphasized.No one can deny the fact that the magnitude of the consistency of a family.The ownership of certain wealth may sometimes blur due to the the death of its former master.The legacy splits into parts and the confirmation of the heritage’s belonging represents the confirmation of the orthodox successor.This kind of symbolism is preferred by the most of the peasants.This phenomenon that people don’t speak out their opinions but tend to symbolize their viewpoints is considered to be courtesy.With the sense of family-first,the economics activities are usually done in the unit of family.
“…,the Chinese family system strongly contributed to social stability and orderliness by nurturing such character traits as loyalty,a strong sense of duty and discipline.It also provided a form of social welfare,since neither the state nor the religion(Buddhism) offered the means or the organization for looking after the sick,elderly and unemployed.”(Chinese Culture and Lore,p 19.)
The farming activities and other occupations such as silk industry are always done within a family,and there are seldom outsiders because they are not related to in genetic ways.Living,transportation,clothing,nourishment and entertainment also can be carried out within one single family.As we are talking about the life style in rural area and countryside,to be brief,I will simply talk about farming activities.Different area has its own specific activities due to the resources of geography.The village in Fei’s book has fishing and rice planting because Kiangsu Province has a relative high relationship with rivers and lakes.The vocations mentioned above certainly can not be seen in Gansu Province as the place is interior.Agriculture activities will be analyzed below to reach a conclusion on ancient countryside’s peasants life.
To produce,they need not only fertile soil but also water supply.The village is always close to river or lake,and the harsh years may come when drought cannot be controlled.Until the harvest day,everything remains uncertain,and the peasants pray for a promising harvest to the heaven.They have little knowledge on farming skills and the only thing they can rely on is the god they are begging to.After collecting all the products like rice and wheat,they sell them to the villagers or the government.Marketing takes up a large proportion of their activity as it is the way to recollect and reproduce.The output cannot be consumed by themselves,and after satisfying their own need,they trade for money to buy living goods and seeds in order to sow in the coming planting season.During the process,they are deprived by the government in all aspect.They are heavily taxed and their grain is always bought by the government in an amazingly low price.So they have to work hard to keep survival and struggle in desperation.
B.An Observation on Contemporary Rural Area
At the beginning years of the People’s Republic of China,peasants acquired a sense of relief due to the policy in rural area.But the situation did not last for a long time.The nationalization process of land was brought out and for a relative long time,this intention to move towards communism clearly sabotaged peasants’ passion.This situation clearly was enhanced during Great Leap Forward and great proletarian cultural revolution.The economics system was destroyed and the financial field was stagnated.It was certainly a huge work to recover.Not only the ethnic self-identity of the peasants was unstable due to the go and work in the countryside or mountain areas of educated urban youth,but also the leaders in the party were vigilant for fear of another mistake.The ideology conflict is beyond the topic (the contradictory can still be found in all walks of life),but the trepidation was an undeniable barrier in the production in rural area.
Leader of that time was Deng Xiaoping,and he decided to clear all these obstacles by the policies called system of contracted responsibility linking remuneration to output and reform and opening-up.The former allowed the peasants to work in groups and after giving a certain amount of their output to a higher authority,they are capable to own the remain regardless of the amount.This policy gave the peasants enthusiasm to work hard in order to have a better life.As for the latter policy of Deng,it allowed the people in urban cities to seek ways to make a great fortune as Deng once said,”we have to allow some to be rich at the first to finally make sure all our people can be rich”.Not only that,they were able to contact with foreigners and hence,acquire some more radical opinions and new kind of modes of thinking.The interaction between urban cities and countryside has made the countryside less like the isolated place it once was.New thoughts are widely spread out and more and more peasants leave their hometown to fight for a brighter future.Some rural area is less active and only elders and children generally known as left-behind children are left.Some rural area is exploited in a commercial purpose like sightseeing and tourism.Some is well equipped and heading towards mechanization which to some extent weakens the meaning of human work force and the output can be doubled (even tripled) compared with that of the past.In a transforming era,everyone is trying to get to a greener pasture and grasp the opportunity.This thesis cannot include all the situations,but one thing is certain.The era in ancient times,under the control and manipulation of the monarch of the Dynasty,will perish and never come back.
Ⅲ.Under Transformation Era
This certain circumstance is formed under the changing of regimes and the thought that guide the leadership to formulate the policies.But directly,it is for the reason that the technology has rapidly developed.Development of the technology changes not only the mode of thinking,but the mode of production.The magnitude of soil production has been deduced throughout the past few decades because the people in urban cities do not rely badly on the production in rural area thanks to the popularization of soil-less culture and other technology on agriculture like anti-season vegetables.This technology development makes the price of fruit and vegetable dropping and the passion to sow,produce,harvest,market and reproduce greatly deduced.Many peasants find it difficult to live a satisfying life without education.And the reality that countryside has few resources makes it convincing that parents send their children to big cities for better education.
This is an era for everyone to struggle.During this transformation,the ethnic self-identity of the peasants is in danger.The feeling of doubtful may reveals itself as the time passes on.The ethics of peasants is under attack as well.There are criticisms of demoralization trend in Chinese,and some old habits that seem to undoubtedly accepted by all in ancient times are gradually disappearing.This concern is somewhat convincing and the interaction between cities and countryside is making the isolated place more and more assimilated.
We are concerned of the current situation and are willing to find some useful suggestions for the peasants.From the analysis above,we can clearly get to the conclusion that only by developing their own competing ability can they have an edge towards the urban mass.By catching up the trend and reading a lot of books (not necessarily left their hometown to get a teacher),they are able to armed with technology.And the knowledge can help them to have a sense of opportunity and catch any chance that may change their inferior situation.All they need is a mind willing to study and change.They can no longer hold on to the old thoughts stubbornly,but the rupture with ancient culture can also be dangerous.Ethics can not be abandoned but some out-of-date “ethics” like the three obediences and the four virtues (brought up by Confucius imposed on women) are certainly to abolish.We cannot fight back with the trend (and it is meaningless),so what we will do is to adjust ourselves into a new-coming era.The past is gone and we have to look forward.
Conclusion We find that Fei’s book is a detailed record on a specific village,and by analyzing the peculiarity and catholicity between this village and the rest of China rural area makes it clear that this village is a specific sample due to its special environmental resources.The ethics and other thoughts that guide the activities in ancient times are illustrated.The transformation era in contemporary China makes all the things mentioned above under great changes.Technology development is the direct cause of this great change and it threatens the system operating before.Despite the fact that the peasants are self-denying,they still get a chance to change by acquiring knowledge willingly.This revolution can certainly become evolution if they do not hesitate to improve themselves.
References:
Donald D.Leslie,Colin Mackerras&Wang Gungwu.1973.Essays on the Sources for Chinese History.Canberra:Australian National University Press.
Richard W.Wilson,Sidney L.Greenblatt and Amy Auerbacher Wilson.1981.Moral Behavior in Chinese Society.New York:Praeger Publishers.
Shiu L.Kong.1989.Chinese Culture and Lore.Toronto:University of Toronto Press.
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