The Study Of The Anhui House Of Correction (1927-1938)

In 1927, before and after the establishment of the Nanjing National Government, Chiang Kai-shek and other rightists of Kuomintang began to prominent a holocaust to the Chinese communists. "Rather than thousand victimizes, can not let one go". For a while, blood is flowing over the ground like water. Such a brutal massacre policy, not only exposed the nature of the KMT, but also weakened the ruling foundation of Kuomintang. In fact, the Communist Party was not been eliminated, but more frequent underground activities. At the same time, more and more people were sympathetic to the Communist Party. What’s more, Shao Lizi、Cai Yuanpei and others Kuomintang leftists offered a proposal to change that strategy. After careful consideration, Chiang Kai-shek accepted the advice and suspended to carry out the "physical elimination" policy, replace with a "not kill" approach. He ordered the local government to establish the house of correction in the countryside. The "red bandits" were send to the house of correction. They had to "question themselves three times a day" and accepted the persuasion and reflection. By doing this, they hoped to achieve the goal of eliminating the root causes of the Communist Party and transforming them into a faithful party-state "new man".In order to ferret out those criminals whose guilt was lighter, the Zhejiang house of correction was formally established in the summer of 1927.That was the first special penitentiary in Chinese prison history. It was used to punish and educate those political offenders. Soon afterwards, National Government issued the 《The house of correction Regulations》, which detailed the construction and operation of the penitentiaries. After 1931, the house of correction was generally established in the countryside, the scope includes Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hebei and other regions.The Anhui house of correction, as one of the earliest penitentiaries, it was established in Anqing Yin Tang prison. Later, it moved to Huangjiashi army prison. A large number of Communists and progressives were locked up, including Ren Bishi, Wang Buwen, Liu Yifu et al. As the national government’s detention of political prisoners in prison in Anhui area, the Anhui penitentiary’s operating mechanism is different from other ordinary prisons. According to the degree of educational level, people were divided into different groups, completed each of various courses. In accordance with 《The house of correction Regulations》, the Anhui penitentiary institute supposed of moral, management and general affair department. What’s more, the Evaluation committee was responsible to consider the admission and discharge of people. In addition, the Anhui house of correction organized different types of activities, such as the Prime Minister Remembrance Week, party ideology seminar, publishing books and Autonomous Village, in response to the art movement of nationalism. Propagate the Three People’s Principles and refute Communism and the Third International. By carrying out all kinds of probation educational activities, to a certain extent, the Anhui house of correction achieved its established objectives.By promulgating "the Anhui penitentiary book management rules", "the Anhui penitentiary bedroom management rules" and other regulations, the house of correction had made detailed provisions about the basic necessities of life of people. Their activities were under strictly controlled. Of course, people were not willing to be bound. They took activities in a clever and subtle way. Such as established the Underground party in the prison, contacted with each other, passing messages, treated the reformatory education negatively, spread the communist ideology and so on. Their activities have made outstanding contributions for the development of CCP in the Anhui region. Both sides campaigned intensely around the theme of "false reflection", tit-for-tat, the volatility of the struggle staged a drama in the house of correction.After the outbreak of Anti-Japanese war, the second country cooperated in all in two parties officially opened. Under the pressure of the public voice, the National government was forced to promise the requirements of "release political prisoners". The political prisoners who were detained in prisons and penitentiaries were released in succession. On January 1,1938, the Supreme Council of National Defense ordered the abolition of the house of correction in a nationwide. "All the people in penitentiaries should be discharged." On November 19 of the same year, the national government officially ordered the abolition of 《The house of correction Regulations》. The penitentiary ultimately exited the stage of history.The house of correction, as a critical component of National Government prison system, it has both the similarity of general prison and the particularity of special prison. It has an important reference value to study the evolution of the Chinese modern prison system and the strategy how the National Government dispose of the political prisoners. At the same time, the change of policy can help us to better understand the history of the Communist Party of China during the period of the Republic of China.