A Study On The Land Issues Of Hinggan League Area In Modern Era

In this dissertation, the Hinggan League area refers to the Horqin Right Wing Front, Middle, and Rear Three Banners, as well as Jalaid Banner in Jirim League. This region roughly covers the entirety of today’s Hinggan League, Baichengshi City in Jilin Province (including the district of Taobei, Da’an City, Taonan City, Zhenlai County, and Tongyu County), Jingxing town in Longjiang County, and much of Tailai County in Heilongjiang Province. The Modern Era main refers to from the Late Qing Dynasty to Liberation War time.This dissertation systematically uses archives from three administrative levels-region, league, and banner--and Japanese historical documents, covering land reclamation during the late Qing and early Republican period, as well as changes under the Japanese occupation, and finally, land reform during the War of Liberation. The dissertation surveys the transformation of the relationship between population, industry, and the land in the Hinggan League Area over the course of nearly one hundred years, and analyzes and summarizes the issues that result from this dramatic change.The dissertation is composed of five parts:the preface, six chapters, conclusion, references, and appendix. The preface introduces the significance of the selected topic, historiography, historical documents used in the dissertation, research methods, and main contribution the dissertation makes to the field. The epilogue summarizes the full text and puts forth concluding remarks and opinions of the author.Chapter One:This section discusses the general properties and blurred distinctions of banner land ownership as expressed by the seigniory of the jasaq within the banner and the right to land disposal under the Qing imperium. It analyzes the internal social organization of the banners of Jirim League and reaches the conclusion that pastureland (small territory) as possessed by the notog represented the typical situation of land tenure inside the banner. The chapter also lists some special circumstances of land ownership.Chapter Two:This section treats, in chronological order, unauthorized reclamation, official reclamation, and the process of establishing local government. Under official reclamation, immigrants from outside the banner who had been denied the right to cultivate land already owned property, and the original inhabitants of the banner were given land for their livelihood. This chapter also discusses the process of land purchases by Han Chinese and other immigrants and how this shaped the formation of villages.Chapter Three:In the early years of the Republican period, the new state continued land reclamation in the four banners and gradually improved and perfected the establishment of local government offices. At the same time, the original inhabitants of the banner transferred ownership of livelihood lands, and gradually moved into the north of the banners to carry out unauthorized reclamation, forming preliminary tenant relations. Through an analysis of the land rent bureau set up in the four banners and its subsequent rent collection, this chapter concludes that Mongol land rent took up about2%of the annual income of local peasants.Chapter Four:Authorities of the Japanese puppet government overhauled the existing tenure system with the policy "Mongol Lands unto the King" and carried out expropriation in the four banners. This chapter stresses the point that the Japanese occupation resulted in complex landforms and ownership problems, characterizing the situation as large-scale agricultural management with a small peasant economy.Chapter Five:After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "May4th Directive," the Northeast Bureau of the CCP deliberated on the domestic situation and the special circumstances of eastern Inner Mongolia, and established an opposition to the KMT’s National United Front. Their stance consisted of:politically liquidating Mongol traitors, local bullies, bandits, and special agents of Chiang Kai-Shek, and economically implementing the Mutual Aid Movement with the purpose of reorganizing land use rights. In August1947, in the vein of the May4th Directive, the Central Committee began the redistribution of land.Chapter Six:In November1947, the Hinggan League held the Masses Work Conference and decided basically to implement the Outline Land Law of China, which abolishes feudalism and mandates the equal distribution of land. The conference also reformulated the "Supplemental Measures," whose revisions were neither approved nor implemented. In completing land redistribution in a very short time of three months, the Hinggan League tended to follow the reform experiences in other parts of China, but the process was not without its problems. As per the instructions of the Central Committee of the CPC, the Northeast Bureau redrew class boundaries in order to narrow the scale of attack. From September, the bureau began correcting deviations in land tenure through a compensation process. Previous studies have evaluated the Land Equalization Movement positively. However, by quoting the various versions of the "Supplemental Measures" and the corresponding report of the Harbin Conference, this dissertation objects to this favorable characterization with historical evidence.The Appendix is composed of four parts, containing a variety of versions of the "Supplemental Measures" original text, the Report Outlines of Ulaanhu in the Cadres Meeting held in Harbin, and the main clause frequently quoted from Gao Gang’s speech.