Food Relief In Guangzhou After The Victory Of The War(1945.8-1949.1)

"Food is a necessity for people’s livelihood and the basis for the functioning of society.Guangzhou has been a land of food shortage since modern times.After the victory of the War of Resistance,the destruction of agriculture and the surge of refugees caused a food crisis in Guangzhou,and food relief became a matter of urgency.In January 1945,the National Government,with the assistance of the United Nations General Administration for Relief and Rehabilitation(GARR),established the General Administration for Relief and Rehabilitation(GARR)of the Executive Yuan and set up fifteen branch offices in the worst-hit areas of the country.was one of them.The Guangdong Branch’s food relief work was initially carried out by setting up low-priced canteens and using the power of overseas Chinese to expand the sources of food,which helped stabilize food prices.The Guangdong Branch,as a temporary agency,was limited to two years by the General Administration,so it was hastily closed in August 1947,and its own serious malpractice greatly reduced the effectiveness of relief.The food crisis became more and more serious,and in order to ensure the normal supply of food in the city,the Nanjing National Government signed the Sino-American Relief Agreement with the United States in October 1947,deciding to carry out food distribution in the five cities of Beijing,Shanghai,Ping,Tianjin and Guangzhou.In Guangzhou,the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Food Distribution Committee was in charge of the food distribution,and the first phase of the distribution was quite effective,but the second phase ended badly with the arrival of the "August 19" price limit,but the effect of Guangzhou’s food distribution on the lower classes was limited,and the lower classes could hardly benefit from the actual food distribution.The food problem in Guangzhou was not only a problem of food itself,but also an economic and political problem at that time,which reflected the ability of the Kuomintang government to govern at a deeper level.In contrast to the food relief efforts in Shanghai,food relief had both its commonality,i.e.,the corruption that existed throughout the Kuomintang’s rule,and its specificity,as Guangzhou was not only riddled with internal conflicts,but also with rumors and questions,and the government’s lack of management capacity and inability to do anything about the food problem.This paper takes the government’s food relief activities as a starting point,not only not limited to the food relief activities in the emergency relief held by the Guangdong Branch Office,but also incorporates the later grain distribution into the food relief activities,thus complementing the continuity of the postwar Guangzhou food relief and exploring the laws and essence of the Kuomintang government’s food relief activities in Guangzhou.