| Historically,the tradition of gentry to participate in public welfare has a long history.At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China,under the pressure of internal and external troubles,China opened the process of national modernization.The demand for state power construction has made state power begin to infiltrate into rural society,and through the decentralization of state power and functions,to strengthen comprehensive and direct control of society and further mobilize social resources.As the middleman between the state and the society and the majority of the resources of the village,the gentry has been given more power by the government to undertake the service guarantee function of the state.This paper draws these conclusions through research.under the mobilization and encouragement of the country,a large number of gentries actively participated in public welfare undertakings,through the government to guide the gentry,the government to supervise the gentry,and the gentry consciously to handle the public welfare,to carry out rural infrastructure construction and promote the operation of rural welfare institutions.During the period of internal and external troubles in the country,the participation of the gentry in public welfare has maintained the stability of the grassroots political power to a certain extent,reduced the central and local financial pressures,created a good social atmosphere,and brought positive effects to local governance.At the same time,the imperfection of the system has also caused the degradation of gentry,which has hindered the funding of public welfare undertakings and administrative work,and has had a negative impact on the development of public welfare undertakings.However,as a special existence in traditional Chinese society,gentry has long played an important role in building and stabilizing rural society and cannot be ignored.China is now in a critical period of reform.The reform of the administrative system from the central to the local government has continued to advance,and rural governance has gradually become the focus of reform.Since the reform and opening up,with the development of the economy and the process of urbanization,the rural areas have been “hollowed out”,rural public service facilities have been seriously lacking,and the welfare protection problems of rural old,weak and sick have been frequently exposed.The state has proposed the return of “New Gentry” and encouraged “New Gentry” to participate in rural cooperative governance to solve a series of problems faced by rural society.Then,how to mobilize the society for rural construction,how to play the role of " New Gentry " to achieve rural revitalization is imminent.Only by looking back at history can we better guide reality.From the perspective of the interaction between the state and society,through the study of the incentives and regulations for the participation of gentry in public welfare in Jiangnan area in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China,this paper draws inspiration for the revitalization of contemporary countryside: it is necessary to further decentralize power,strengthen incentives,carry forward traditions and strengthen regulations in order to better mobilize social resources and realize the revitalization of the countryside. |
