A Study On The Ensure Public Security Of Henan Province 1927-1937

The public security power was a special military force in the Republic of China period. It was an important means of management that the central government carried out. It took governmental orders to realize the society control. In modern China, the public security power mainly carried the task to maintain the public orders of the society. The emergence of it meant that the central government completed the control of local powers and the local armies were brought into the national military system. In the years of 1927-1937, the Nanjing central government reformed local armies and enhanced the military centralization, making the public security power a tool to maintain its rule. Henan was in the direct control under the central government and it was an important district to suppress bandits. So the change and construction conditions of its public security system could reflect the efforts and results that the Nanjing central government made on the construction of the public security system. This paper explores the construction conditions of Henan public security system in 1927-1937 from following five aspects.1. The background. In the early years of 20th century, the society of Henan was in turbulence and the bandits were rampant, also the social orders were in confusion. Under this background, various self-defense powers appeared. Without united and harmonious conductions, those local armies failed to suppress the bandits.2. The public security system and the organization system. In 1927, the provincial government united the local powers into the regiment armies which were renamed self-defense regiments in 1928. In 1931, the Nanjing central government changed the regiment armies into security corps, belonging to the provincial public security system. Until then, the Nanjing central government completed the unification of local armies, and the public security powers got strengthened. 3. The budgets and equipments of the public security powers. The budgets for the public security powers of Henan were raised from the tax of agriculture and commerce. Those incomings were full enough to assure the expenditure of the public security powers. Therefore, the equipments of the public security powers in Henan were more excellent. Due to the demand to suppress the bandits, the transportation and communication equipments for the public security powers were good.4. The public security officers and its community feature. Henan had a standard procedure and strict assessment ways for choosing officers as well as the more attention on the training. So the qualities of the public security officers were improved. At the same time, Henan guaranteed the salaries and aggressive trainings of the soldiers to enhance the fighting abilities. The community feature of the public security powers in Henan was in good conditions.5. The authority and the obligation of the public security powers. The public security powers carried the missions of suppressing the bandits and maintaining public orders. In addition, because the public security members had close relations with the common people, so they exerted the demonstration function in educating the people. They also had a duty-bound responsibility in the enlargement of national troops.