| In the period of the Republic of China, the urban underclass was an important part of the society. It was a social group with a huge number of members and was a product of social transformation and differentiation of modern China. In the study of urban social history, the elite upper strata, instead of the underclass, are always the focus. However, the fate and life experience of urban underclass were closely connected with the development of modern Chinese society. They paid great efforts for survival, which played an important role in promoting the development of modern Chinese society. Therefore, it is necessary for us to study the urban underclass to compensate for the weakness or blank in the study of modern Chinese urban history, to broaden and to deepen the study of regional history, as well as to provide historical reference for the social practice of building a harmonious society and achieving scientific development.Starting from the development of urban social structure in modern Shandong in the context of urbanization and from the structure of urban underclass of Shandong in the period of the Republic of China, this paper analyzes the changes of urban underclass of Shandong in the period of the Republic of China from the changes of social and economic life of urban underclass, the changes of social management, the changes of social improvement and the changes of urban underclass, thus sketching out a panoramic view of the social development of urban underclass.Social stratification means the overall situation that various social groups have different social status, stand in different social levels and face different social survival because they possess or enjoy unequal and asymmetrical political, economic and cultural resources, which is the objective status that people are "assigned" to particular social position and has the basic characteristic that social stratification determines social structure. In the urbanization process of modern Shandong, with the rise of capitalist industry and commerce, the closed identity strata structure was finally broken and the urban social structure began to shift to the modern social hierarchy structure with functional career as the basic standard.In the period of the Republic of China, the urban underclass of Shandong comprised of a large number of people whose careers involved all aspects of urban life. Since most of them were illiterate poor people lack of skilled craft, lack of means of livelihood and having a high rate of unemployment, they could only survive by selling labor and other lower means of livelihood. Their careers involved all aspects of urban life. They had the lowest status in urban society. From the aspects of career, social status, wealth, income, prestige, influence and other factors, the urban underclass of Shandong in the period of the Republic of China were mainly divided into the following groups:first was the labor group, mainly comprising of industrial workers, artisans, counterjumpers and apprentices; second was the group living on their own, mainly comprising of small traders and handicraftsmen; third was the coolie group, mainly comprising of coachmen, rickshaw pullers, seasonal workers and casual workers in the fields of construction, transportation, handling and cleaning; fourth was the homeless group, mainly comprising of beggars, prostitutes, scavengers and refugees. From the perspective of origin, the urban underclass mainly included the farmers coming into cities due to the temptation of urban development and the influence of natural disasters in the rural area, also original urban citizens and unemployed workers flowing into the underclass during the transformation process of urban social structure. The rapid development and superior urban environment attracted the farmers. Besides, the impact of capitalist relation of production, the influence of natural disasters and frequent wars were also reasons for farmers to leave their villages for the cities.The society in the period of the Republic of China underwent great changes, such as political changes, social development and social changes. In the macro background, people's daily economic and social lives were deeply affected, which was not only reflected in the middle and upper social strata, but also reflected in the lower social strata. The lower social strata lived on their income, which was the scale to measure their material life and consumption level. Influenced by the career, position, gender, age, geography and other factors, there were considerable differences in their income. The social environment, the level of socio-economic development in different historical periods greatly influenced the workers'income. The wages were different among different industrial sectors; the amount of capital, the level of modernization, the level of technical proficiency, different positions, gender, age and geographical factors also influenced the level of wages. In the period of the Republic of China, a lot of displaced people came into the cities of Shandong and there was mass unemployment. The labor market was often in a state of oversupply. Therefore, the wages of workers were largely limited to a very low level. Many workers could not even maintain a basic living on their wages. The consumption structure of the workers could be divided into:catering cost, clothing cost, housing cost, fuel cost, education fee, medical fee, courtesy fee and other miscellaneous expenses, among which catering cost occupied a large proportion. The rickshaw appeared early in Shandong during the period of the Republic of China, quickly becoming an important means of transportation. The rickshaw pullers worked hard for several hours each day, but they got very low income and should pay rentals to rickshaw dealers. The income of rickshaw pullers depended on their everyday business. Sometimes, a rickshaw puller even had no guest throughout a whole day, in such a way, their income was not fixed. Some rickshaw pullers might suffer from the exploitation of their leaders. Compared with the group of workers, the income of rickshaw pullers was lower, their lives were more impoverished and their consumption structure was more imbalanced. Although the rickshaw pullers had lower income and lower living level compared with the other underclass at that time, they were better than other coolie groups. The brothel was a lucrative industry in the society at that time. The prostitutes produced large profits for the brothels, but they got low income, and the unlicensed prostitutes were paid even less. Prostitutes spent their income in daily living, mainly clothes, shoes, socks, cosmetics, makeup, food, rental and other expenses, especially clothes, which was different from that of workers and rickshaw pullers and was determined by the occupational characteristics. Donations and medical expenses were necessary expenditures of the prostitutes. What's worse, the beggars wandering in every corner of the city had no fixed income.In the period of the Republic of China, the clothing, catering and living conditions of the urban underclass in Shandong were closely linked with their income and consumption. In the impoverished families, clothing only accounted for the smallest proportion of total expenditure, only for warming and sheltering. Rickshaw pullers were usually dressed in uniforms. Prostitutes paid more attention to clothes due to occupational requirements, which was a special case in the underclass. Beggars were even worse in clothing; a fig leaf was enough for them. People live on food. Catering need was the basic survival need of the underclass. The staple food included cornmeal and millet and the non-staple food mainly include pickles; they could not afford any meat in most times. If they lost their job, they would have neither food nor clothing.Housing is the place for mankind to fight against cold, to rest and to reproduce; it is one of the important conditions for people's survival. In the period of the Republic of China, limited by the economic level, most families in the urban underclass lived in the internal and external corners of the cities, forming some tattered and dirty slums and shanty towns. In case of war, famine and other disasters, it was even difficult for them to find a place to live. For the convenience of work, workers, rickshaw pullers and apprentices often lived in the dormitory of the factories, shops and car dealers, though the living conditions were mostly simple and crowded. Brothels had their fixed location and business domicile, but prostitutes lived in the houses with significant grade differences. Inferior prostitutes lived in extremely poor conditions while first and second class prostitutes lived in comfortable houses with furniture. Beggars had no fixed living place, always lying in the streets or wilderness.Social life is a reflection of the development level of social productive forces and is the embodiment of the degree of social progress. In the period of the Republic of China, with the penetration of foreign capitalist political, economic and cultural forces, social material and cultural life and social customs underwent significant changes. The Western way of life was brought into the cities in Shandong. As regards of entertainment, traditional and modern means of entertainment corresponded to and combined with each other. Although a variety of entertainment activities existed among the middle and upper strata, the underclass rarely participated in the entertainment activities, which was limited by the meager income, the hard work, the long working hours and so on. They were short of clothes and food, not mention entertainment, which resulted in that their entertainment activities were less and simple.In the urbanization process of Shandong, on the one hand, the population rapidly increased because of the urban economic development; on the other hand, the imbalance of male to female ratio appeared because many people came into the cities. Influenced by the poor material life, the marriage and families of urban underclass were also simple. Both men and women came from poor families and improvised to get married to each other. As there was a serious imbalance in the sex ratio, a lot of people can not be married and the unmarried rate was always at a higher level. As for the way of marriage, early marriage, forced marriage and other bad habits were still ingrained, even more evident in urban underclass. Not only the marriage rate was low, influenced by their economic income, social status and other constraints, the household population was relatively small.The realization of social management relies on the development of relevant laws and regulations by government administrative authorities, the enforcement of jurisdiction authorities and the promotion by other means. As the society changed and the national instruments improved, the arrangement of governmental administrative authorities and development of laws and regulations of the Republic of China also gradually improved. The management of urban underclass was mostly limited to large cities, however, due to the turbulent social environment, the decrees issued by the government were difficult to implement. In the period of the Republic of China, Shandong provincial government subrogated frequently. As a key region competed for by the warlords, the administrative authorities at all levels changed all the time. The government controlled the urban underclass by the above-mentioned jurisdiction authorities, police, army, secret service and other organs of force, among which the police had a closer relationship with the underclass. Under the control of different governments, police team building, organizational arrangement, management systems and social roles were different. Laws and regulations were the basic guarantee for the country to management its people. In period of the Republic of China, the modern legislative mechanisms were constructed gradually, the modern laws and regulations were gradually, the judiciary authorities were improved and the management of social strata was strengthened through the enforcement of laws.In the period of the Republic of China, affected by the chaos of war and the government's neglect of the urban underclass, the social improvement for underclass was mainly carried out during the reign of the National Government in Nanjing. After Chiang Kai-shek carried the New Life Movement, the social improvement activities were carried out in all areas. As Shandong Province was in the state of warlord competition, there was no improvement activity until the reign of Han Fuju. The social improvement activities for urban underclass in Shandong Province involved the fields of education, relief, moral, convention and so on. Social education is public education, which is a way of education corresponding to school education. In the social education in Shandong Province, popular educational lecturer rooms, public education halls and public schools developed well and made outstanding achievements. According to the decrees issued by the government, Shandong spent great efforts to develop vocational education. The vocational education dominated by the factories included employee remediation schools and employee speeches. The vocational education dominated by governmental authorities included the vocational education developed by poorhouse and other relief agencies and vocational education of livelihood factories.Modern Shandong underwent frequent wars and disasters, so the social relief played a significant role. The governments at different periods all arranged relief agency and the standing social relief agency was the Department of Civil Affairs. During the reign of the National Government in Nanjing, especially the reign of Han Fuju, the social relief in Shandong Province was developed to the maximum. In the period of the Republic of China, the traditional relief agencies in Shandong Province mainly included:almshouses, foundlings and shelters. The new relief agencies included poorhouses (including nurseries, rescue homes, loan homes, orphan homes, pension homes, etc), beggar shelters, correction houses and employment agencies. Not only the government-run relief cause developed rapidly, the private charitable organizations and associations also carried out relief cause, but the vast majority concentrated in the cities, such as Jinan, Qingdao and Yantai.In the period of the Republic of China, the cities in Shandong also made great efforts to improve the urban morals and customs, especially during the reign of Han Fuju. Shandong provincial government focused on improving the social morals, such as management of prostitutes, brothel, hotels, dance halls, dancers, show rooms, drugs and casinos. Prostitution abolishment, drug control and gambling prohibition carried out by Shandong provincial government impacted the social morals significantly and were closely connected with the urban underclass. Along with economic development and social progress, the social customs should change accordingly. The essence of traditional customs is worthy of inheritance and development while the dross should be forbidden. During the period of the Republic of China, urban development could not tolerate many old customs, thus the social customs changed. The changes of social customers mainly were braid cutting, foot releasing, weddings, funerals and clothing. The original urban infrastructure could not satisfy the rapid growth of urban population, which was one of the problems for the rulers to solve. Therefore, the urban planning of different cities was gradually put on the agenda. Due to unequal allocation of social resources, there was less urban infrastructure closely linked with the urban underclass. The construction of civilian residential houses, the alteration of existing roads, the laying of supply pipelines and drains and the opening of civilian hospitals were closely related to people's livelihood. Represented by Qingdao, the cities in Shandong all adopted administrative measures to improve the living conditions of the underclass. The construction of medical institutions, the development of epidemic prevention and improvement of public health habits were also closely connected with the urban underclass.Compared with the middle and upper strata, the urban underclass belonged to the proletariat, they were poverty stricken and lived hard, just struggling for basic survival needs and unable to control their own destiny. Under these conditions, as an integral part of the whole society, the development and change of the urban underclass had a great impact to the social development of the Republic of China. The economy of Shandong during the period of the Republic of China was still in the shadow of the semi-colony semi-feudal society and the aggressive imperialist forces. Even if the political power rested in the hands of Chinese, the economy was still colonial. A number of important industrial sectors were dominated by foreign capital, the national economy was plundered and marginalized by imperialism and crushed and bonded by the Beiyang Government and the Kuomintang Government. The economic development was difficult and slow. Therefore, the impact of urban underclass (mainly the workers) during this period on social and economic development was advancing in difficulties.During the period of the Republic of China, the new democratic revolution by the Communist Party of China developed vigorously. As an old revolutionary base, Shandong had played important roles in the previous revolutionary movements. The urban underclass were key sources for the revolutionary forces in Shandong. Under the encouragement, education and correct leadership of the Communist Party of China, as an integral part of urban underclass, the workers fought indomitably, from spontaneously to consciously, grew in the revolution gradually, cultivated their political in the movements consciously and became the leading class of the new democratic revolution eventually, writing a glorious chapter for the revolution,... |
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