Changes Of Rural Order In Hengshan,Hunan In The 1920s

Taking the rural order of Hengshan County,Hunan Province in the 1920 s as the research object,this paper investigates the changes of rural order in Hengshan County reflected by the warlord scuffle,Yuebei agricultural workers’ Association and Hengshan farmers’ movement in the 1920 s.This paper discusses the causes and process of peasant riots in this area,and reveals the changing characteristics of modern regional society in this area.Hengshan County is located in the south of Hunan.The area is dominated by hills,rivers and plains.The production method of the local people is intensive farming.Hengshan County has a profound cultural atmosphere.County studies,academies,social studies,righteous studies and ethnic studies are all distributed,forming a unique "civilized Olympic area".The county’s religious customs are mainly Nanyue Shengdi belief,which is a folk belief integrating ancestor worship and hero worship,with distinctive regional characteristics.The county’s villages have a stable operation mechanism.The Baojia and Lijia systems are responsible for public security and taxation in rural areas;clans and gentry are both rural authorities;farmers in Hengshan County are mainly self-cultivation farmers,semi-owner farmers,tenant farmers and farm laborers.The above factors are combined maintain a stable village order.In the early years of the Republic of China,the regime in Hunan Province changed several times,and warlords from all walks of life launched wars to strengthen their forces,and the stable rural order in the past was gradually destroyed.The warlords’ melee led to the collapse of the rural economy and the reduction of farmers ’ income;the rural authority also changed,the elites in the area left the countryside one after another,and the original gangsters gained authority in the countryside through force,so the rural society gradually became disordered.Local tyrants and evil gentry annexed a large number of rural land,and farmers became tenant farmers one after another.The floods in Hengshan County continued,bandits ravaged the countryside,and the village order was further damaged.In 1923,Liu Dongxuan and Xie Huaide established the Yuebei Farmers’ Union,united local workers and farmers,and launched the "Yuebei Rebellion".In 1925,Hengshan County was involved in the May 30 th Movement.The Hengshan Snow Shame Branch led the local people to participate in the promotion of anti-imperialist patriotism,inventory and sales of foreign goods,and organize donations.In 1926,after the establishment of the Hengshan County Agricultural Association,it quickly became a new force in the local area and fought against the old forces.The members of the farmers’ associations set up farmers’ evening schools and workshops for the farmers’ movement,mobilized the people to participate in the farmers’ associations,and linked workers’ groups,children and women to fight against the landlords.At the same time,the farmers’ association fought against the Shan’s fake farmers’ association in Caoshi,and won,greatly hitting the old forces in the countryside.This article uses the "Luoyide" case to analyze the confrontation between old and new forces in this area.With the development of the peasant movement in Hengshan County,Luo Yide,who was then the chairman of the Qianzi District Agricultural Association,led the people to sit and eat at the landlord’s house,demanded the landlord to hand over their property,and attacked the bullies in the rural areas.After the Ma Ri Incident,the local tyrants and evil gentry in Hengshan County colluded with the counter-revolutionaries to set up the Hengshan County Qingxiang Committee,massacred local Communist Party members and ordinary peasants,and falsely accused Luo Yide.The case was tried by the three-term magistrates of the Hengshan County Government,and Luo Yide was eventually sentenced to prison.At the same time,the Hengshan County Agricultural Association insisted on fighting against the counter-revolutionaries,and launched the Nanyue riot with the local military and civilians,but it was eventually suppressed by the Kuomintang and went to failure.From the above historical changes,it can be seen that from the warlord melee in Hengshan County in 1917 to the end of the Hengshan peasant movement in 1928,the rural order in the county has undergone drastic changes.The melee of warlords,local tyrants and evil gentry,natural disasters and banditry,etc.led to the imbalance of rural social order.The agricultural association tried to rebuild the rural social order,with certain results,but ultimately failed.Analysis of the reasons is related to the slow development of rural party organizations,the collusion of local tyrants and evil gentry with counter-revolutionary forces,and the problems within the Peasant Self-Defense Forces.Therefore,from the perspective of the revolutionary history of Hunan in the 1920 s and 1930 s,although Hengshan County in the 1920 s was also the center of the peasant movement,later Changsha,Xiangtan and Shaoshan gradually became the center of the Hunan revolution.center of gravity.