Economy And Society: Socio-economic, Gannan, Ming And Qing Dynamic Investigation

This dissertation is a study on the social and economic development in South Jiangxi Province of China in Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties. With the theories and the researching approaches of sociology and anthropology, it gives a detailed analysis of various issues concerning the social and economic changes in the area. A major point of the article is that the massive migration, which started in early Ming dynasty. helped open the area to the outside, bringing not only the dynamics for the economic development but also some social problems in the area. By examining the reciprocal relationships between the government, religion and refugee arms, the article also analyzes the integration process and the result of the fundamental social organizations of the area by the governments of Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is made clear that the social integration in the Ming Dynasty created a good environment for a further social and economic development in Qing Dynasty.In both Ming and Qing dynasties, the land-renting relationship evolved smoothly and the commodity economy developed greatly, especially in Qing Dynasty in which the social economy in South Jiangxi Province enjoyed new development on the basis of Ming Dynasty. But it met with tremendous resistance as well. Among the various factors that affected the continual economic development in the area are mainly the natural environment, the geographical position, the migration and the tense relationship thus caused. The decisive factor, however, is institutional.The dissertation consists of 6 chapters with Chapter One as the introduction and Chapter Six as the conclusion.Chapter Two is an examination of the characteristics of the migration movement, the forming process of the Hakka residential area in South Jiangxi Province in Ming and Qing Dynasties. A major characteristic of the migration movement is its multi-directionalness, which had a great influence on the formation of Hakka and the society in the area.Chapter Three gives an account of the social integration process of South Jiangxi Province through a detailed analysis of the cause and manifestation of the social turbulence as well as rivalry of all the social forces of the area in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. By a close examination of the reciprocal relationships between the government, religious interest and the refugee arms in the area, the article makes a research into the polarization and evolution of all the forces in the local social controlling system.Chapter Four analyzes the development of the land-renting relationship in South Jiangxi Province, giving some special discussion and distinction of the different rent forms in the area. From such materials as the demands of the villein movements, folk sayings, and the changes of the official attitudes, it is made clear that there exists some delicate differences between the traditional folk saying and the academic concept on the relationship. The starting time of the permanent land-renting right in the area is also discussed, as well as its evolvement into the two ownerships of one piece of land.Chapter Five concentrates on the development of commodity economy, the interactive relationship between the economy and the local society, and the local market economy in South Jiangxi Province. It also gives an analysis of those factors that hindered the development of the commodity economy in the area. On the whole, this article holds that the commodity economy in the area had a great development in Ming and Qing Dynasties, which shook the local society to some degree. On this basis, local bazaars experienced some changes. After middle Qing Dynasty, the distribution of local bazaars in the area changed. This reflects the way of the development of the local social economy and the looser and looser relation of the local bazaars with the national market as the trade route declined in South Jiangxi Province. As for the factors hindering the development of the local commodity economy in the area, land ownership, natural and geographical environment, and the outer s...