Study On Tung Oil Trade And Regional Social Transformation And Development In Southwestern Hubei In Modern Times

Since the modern times,the characteristics and efficacy of tung oil have been known to foreign countries,so the tung oil produced in China has been able to go abroad and go overseas.As an important oil-producing area in China,the southwestern of Hubei province has also become an important raw material production area of capitalist countries.With the continuous development of the tung oil export business,the southwestern of Hubei province,the closed geographical unit,was connected to the outside world.The tung oil is a carrier of cultural exchanges,allowing new factors from the outside to enter the mountainous area,which had an huge impact on the "ultra-stable structure" of this region.Therefore,in the context of the development of tung oil trade,this area took a key step towards modernization.Thus,under the guidance of the theory of social change,the research is based on historical documents and combined with ethnological fieldwork methods to investigate the tung oil trade,so as to explore the role of the development of tung oil trade in the process of modernization in southwestern of Hubei.As an important tung oil producing area in China,southwest Hubei has a very long history of planting tung oil.For a long time,tung oil was mainly used by local residents.It was not until the reform of the administrative system(Change the Native Tusi to the Appointed official),a large number of Han merchants entered the place to operate local mountain goods such as tung oil.and southwestern Hubei tung oil was trafficked out of the country.In 1875,with the industrialization of capitalist countries and the opening of trade ports such as Yichang,Hankou and Shashi,Tung oil was sold overseas and became a bulk product for export earning foreign exchange in the region.The export of tung oil in southwestern of Hubei has flourished since its rise.The development process of Tung oil trade can be divided into three stages: the stage of prosperity and development before the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,decline during the War of Resistance and brief recovery in the later period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.The modern Tung oil transportation channel can be divided into internal and external areas.The internal passage is mainly transported by land,mainly relying on human transport.The external passage is mainly transported by water,through the rivers such as the Yangtze River,Qingjiang River and Youshui river.Therefore,the port terminals of Badong County,Laifeng Baifusi and Changyang Ziqiu along the rivers had become transit stations for the transportation of tung oil in the area.Ports and terminals connect markets in and outside the region,thus forming a market network with tung oil as the core.In addition,the development of the tung oil trade has brought villages and markets closer together,guiding farmers to participate in market activities.While the tung oil trade was booming,there was a "tung oil crisis" in society.The emergence of public opinion on the "Tung Oil Crisis" is the result of the emergence of modern crisis consciousness.In the context of the era of salvation and survival,people were worried about the future of the tung oil industry,worried that the international market of tung oil in China will be seized by others,and use the "tung oil crisis" to arouse the attention of the Chinese people and the government.Driven by the public opinion of the "tung oil crisis",the national government has also increased its attention to the development future of tung oil and began to promote the increase and improvement of tung oil production in order to maintain the dominant position of tung oil in the world market.On the other hand,the public opinion of the "Tung Oil Crisis" provided the public opinion basis for the national government’s unified purchase and sales policy,making it possible for the smooth implementation of the.The implementation of the policy of unified purchasing and marketing had harmed the interests of oil merchants and farmers.In order to make up for the loss of profits,oil merchants,farmers expressed their own demands to the government.On the one hand,oil merchants requested the government to increase the price of tung oil through the Chamber of Commerce to safeguard the legitimate rights of merchants;On the other hand,in the face of the use of authoritarian power by the government to lower the purchase price of Tung Oil,Farmers suffered certain economic losses,which caused farmers to oppose.Therefore,they express their demands by cutting down the paulownia forest and refusing to collect the paulownia tree.In the end,with the joint efforts of businessmen and farmers,the national government had to raise the purchase price of tung oil and adjust the purchase method,allowing businessmen to engage in tung oil business activities to a certain extent.The export trade of tung oil had developed very rapidly and once became a pillar industry in the region.The development of tung oil trade has promoted the social development process.First of all,the development of tung oil trade has promoted the development of the market economy,promoted the prosperity and development of the market towns in the region,and accelerated the pace of urbanization in modern southwest Hubei.Secondly,the rapid development of tung oil trade has given birth to the commodity awareness and market concept of the people gradually freed the people from the shackles of the "agriculture-oriented" thinking,promoted the development of commodity and market economy,and to a certain extent shaken the foundation of the self-sufficient feudal natural economy;Finally,in the context of tung oil trade the combination of contract consciousnessand traditional concept of faith and righteousness has enhanced the people’s sense of responsibility and rights.In a word,the development of tung oil export has brought new social factors into the relatively closed mountainous area,which to a certain extent has broken the "ultrastable structure" of this area.It is the catalyst for the modernization of southwestern of Hubei province.