The Research Of Binzhou Militia (1912～1949)

The Militia is a very active folk military form in the Republican period of China. In the recent years, nevertheless, the research into it stays relatively stagnant, especially for such narrow areas as Binzhou. There are few strokes concerning the militia moving about in the Binzhou area.The militia is one of traditional folk military organizations in ancient China, with characteristics of legality, locality, and independency. The Binzhou area is a typical and active area of militia in the Republican period of China. The militia in this area includes the militia organized by the government and the folk people. The militia organized by the government contains the military force organized under the advocacy of the government and the one organized by the local faction with power and strength and the village construction faction. The folk militia mainly includes the traditional folk military force and the one formed by Taoist armed force. The militia of Binzhou has experienced four stages, namely, prologue, development, climax and the epilogue. It is the outcome of the interwoven social contradictions at that time, with its distinct aims for the rise of each stage. Accordingly, it leads different leaderships, organizations, and outlay resources as well as the social functions of different stages. The development of the militia of Binzhou can be labelled as the weatherglass of that of the politics and culture at that period. Actually, the militia organization comes into being under the circumstance of the intensified contradictions of that period. Some of them are set up under the advocacy and allowance of the government, and others are organized and established with the direct help of the government. As a result, the militia becomes the government's auxiliary force to control the villages. At the outset of the Republican period of China, owing to the weak control over the villages, the militia established by the folk people is quite common. With the government's increased control over the local authorities, the government strengthens gradually its dominion over the folk militia. In the late 1920s and the early 1930s, the folk militias were substituted by those dominated by the government little by little. The outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War is a distinct turning point for the growth and the landmark of the climax of the Binzhou militias. A miscellaneous forces upholds the banner of the government militias. The wrong guiding policies practiced by the government, nevertheless, incur their severe divergence in the last period of the war. Many of them are taken advantage of and turn to be the tool of Japanese Puppet Regime and some of them become part of the anti-Japanese forces led by the Communist Party.The present thesis falls into four parts, which are unfolded logically. It first indicates the meaning of the choice of this topic, reviews the present studies and researches already done up till today, and illustrates the research methods, train of thought and research purposes. Based upon the above, this thesis in the first step enumerates the origin and basic types of the Binzhou militias. Then it makes an analysis of their organization and further elaborates their social functions through such layers as leadership, the backbone strength, and fund. The third part analyzes the relationship between the Binzhou militias and its politics from four aspects in the light of interactive relationship between Binzhou militias and the politics of the Repulican period of China.