Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China: Fang Zhimin and the Origin of a Revolutionary Movement in the Xinjiang Region

by Kamal Sheel

Overview

Whereas most writing on the Communist Revolution in China has concentrated on the influence of intellectual leaders, this book examines the role of peasants in the upheaval, viewing them not as a malleable mass but as a dynamic social force interacting with the radical intelligentsia. Focusing on the Xinjiang region, Kamal Sheel traces the historical roots of the early twentieth-century agrarian crisis that led to a large-scale revolution in the late 1920s, one of the most successful peasant movements organized by the Chinese Communists. A fresh analysis emerges of the remarkable Marxist intellectual Fang Zhimin, who used his deeply entrenched rural connections to organize the movement through a creative synthesis of traditional folk concepts with modern Marxist thought. This history begins with the impact of the Taiping Rebellion and proceeds to document the rapid disintegration of the small peasant economy under the pressures of world economics, a "state in crisis," and a qualitatively different landed upper class. It discusses exploitation, protest, and rural uprisings in the context of the "crisis of paternalism," marked by a progressive deterioration in the social relationships in rural areas. Integrating this investigation of rural upheaval with recent social science theories on peasant movements, the study ultimately explores the growth of the Xinjiang revolutionary movement.

Originally published in 1989.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691605234
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/14/2014
Series:	Princeton Legacy Library , #1015
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.70(d)

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Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China

Fang Zhimin and the Origin of a Revolutionary Movement in the Xinjiang Region

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By Kamal Sheel

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 1989 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-05571-8

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CHAPTER 1

The Xinjiang Region

Site of a highly successful peasant movement and one of the largest and most famous soviets in China, the Xinjiang region lies in the northeast of Jiangxi province. Strictly speaking, it consists of the valley of the Xin River (Xin jiang), from which its name was derived. Originating from high ranges of the Huaiyu Mountains on the boundary of Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces, the river flows westward and merges with Lake Poyang, the recipient of all rivers in Jiangxi. Administratively, most of the areas of this region belonged to Guangxin and Raozhou prefectures, with a majority of district towns located on the banks of this river. Right in the middle of these two prefectures were three interconnected districts, Yiyang, Guixi, and Hengfeng — the birthplace of the Xinjiang revolutionary movement.

Boundaries of the Xinjiang region, more broadly defined, touched southern Anhui in the north, areas above the Dong River (in east-central Jiangxi) in the south, southwest Zhejiang and northwest Fujian in the east, and Lake Poyang (north-central Jiangxi) in the west. The northern and eastern areas of this region were highlands, consisting respectively of the Wuyu and Huaiyu mountain ranges. The lowland occupied a larger area on the southern and western sides of the valley of the Xin. While physical environment separated high- and lowland areas, both were socially and economically closely intertwined and formed one unit. This whole unit was roughly the area where, in the early 1930s, the Min-Zhe-Wan-Gan (Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi) Soviet was established by Fang Zhimin.

The initial population of this region broadly consisted of the natives (bendi) who settled on the low and flat land suitable for human habitation around Lake Poyang and in the Xin River valley. Until the late sixteenth century, the mountainous part of this region, like other areas of the Yangzi highlands, were, as Stephen Averill's study indicates, "regular haunts only of hunters and hermits, of Daoist priests and desperate brigands and of a few poor peasants who crept up from the neighboring valleys to cut firewood and dig for medicinal roots." However, the massive increase in population, especially in the southeast region of China, and the introduction of such new subsistence and cash crops as sweet potatoes, maize, jute, indigo, and the like, suitable for cultivation in hilly areas, soon led to a new phase of interregional migration. This brought a large number of people to the highlands. The migration continued, probably in waves, until the end of the eighteenth century. Most of the migrants to the highlands came from the densely populated neighboring provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Fujian, and Guangdong. Composed of groups as they were, they came to be called "shed people," primarily because of their usual practice of first constructing small makeshift sheds or shacks before opening up the land for cultivation purposes. 3 Their numbers increased rapidly, so much so that various imperial edicts from 1723 onward instructed local officials to bring them under the baojia administration.

Settlement in the highlands, combined with the relatively peaceful and prosperous reigns of Kangxi (1662–1722), Yongzheng (1723–1735), and Qianlong (1736–1795), stimulated population growth in the whole of Jiangxi province. Between 1393 and 1851, the population total of the area registered what was historically its greatest leap. It almost tripled, rising from roughly 8.9 million in 1393 to about 24.5 million in 1851. In comparison, arable land increased by less than 6 percent, and per capita landholding in this region declined to about 3.5 mu, which was well below the national average of about 4.5 mu during that period. The province thus became densely populated by the late eighteenth century.

The massive growth of the population stimulated a reverse trend of movement of people out of the province from the late eighteenth century until the outbreak of the Taiping Rebellion. Confronted with shrinking resources, the Jiangxi people migrated, as Ho Ping-ti's study indicates, to Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces to find better opportunities. Noting major migration trends in Qing China, Wei Yuan, a well-known nineteenth-century historian and geographer, writes that the "people of Jiangxi poured into Hubei and Hunan, and the people of Hubei and Hunan filled up Sichuan." Local histories of Hunan reveal that most of its aliens were Jiangxi natives. In the Guanhua district of Hubei, for example, immigrants from the Xinjiang region established several guildhalls during the Daoguang reign. As these neighboring provinces began to fill up, Jiangxi people went as far as Sichuan and Shanxi in search of land.

The demographic pressure subjected the province to problems related to wide-scale deforestation. Aliens, settling in increasing numbers in the highlands of Xinjiang and other regions, introduced and cultivated such high-yielding subsistence crops as maize and sweet potatoes and such profitable commercial crops as jute and indigo. Deforestation for cultivation purposes soon brought the usual problem of soil erosion. Peasants dug land deeply to plant various crops, and this resulted in bumper production during the first few years. But the topsoil was in due course washed away by heavy rains, which not only made the land unsuitable for cultivation but also silted up riverbeds and lakebeds, making the whole region flood-prone. The Qing state finally had to issue strict orders forbidding the unsystematic utilization of highlands and promoting the planting of tea and shan trees to protect the region against soil erosion.

Thus, although the massive cultivation in the highlands temporarily increased food production and supported a larger population, the consequent erosion of land considerably limited the amount of arable land and frequently caused flooding in many lowland areas. This further increased the pressure of population on available land. By the mid–nineteenth century, the demographic pressure contributed to a serious agrarian crisis. Peasants rebelled throughout the province and the Taiping rebels found many eager supporters. Out of 364 recorded incidents of "social unrest" in the province during 1796–1911, 292 took place in the period between 1846 and 1875. While population explosion was the main reason for the agrarian discontent with which this region was confronted in the mid-nineteenth century, the same cannot be said of the early-twentieth-century rural crisis.

Agriculture

In the Xinjiang region, the high density of population and limited agricultural land naturally promoted intensification of agriculture. Multiple crop- ping became prevalent. Peasants usually harvested three crops a year on the wetland and two in hilly areas and on dryland. A wide variety of crops was thus produced. For example, according to a survey of the 1920s, peasants in Guangfeng district planted rice, sweet potatoes, soybeans, rapeseed, tobacco, green vegetables, bamboo, and millet as the main crops. In addition, they grew lesser quantities of glutinous grain, maize, sugar cane, beans, tea, and cotton, among other crops.

In total production, however, no crop surpassed rice — the most important crop of the region, cultivated in all the districts. As in other areas of China, dissemination of "Champa" and the introduction of many local early ripening varieties of rice, such as "Jiangxi Early," facilitated the spread of multiple cropping. Early-season rice was sown as the first crop sometime in April and harvested in June; middle-season rice was planted in late June or early July and cut in September. On highlands, only late rice was planted because heavy rainfall in summer made the land unsuitable for repetitive cultivation. The average production of rice was from two to four dan per mu, which competed favorably with other top-producing rice regions.

Among other subsistence crops, wheat and millet were planted during the winter. They were followed by early soybean or late sesame crops in the lake area and other low-lying ground. Sweet potatoes and maize were produced in the highlands. Both these crops were introduced during the late sixteenth century and brought to this region by migrants during the late-Ming and early-Qing periods. Their adaptability to the highlands and preservability in diverse weather conditions made them attractive for the shed people settled here.

Cash crops like tea, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and ramie characterized the agriculture of almost all of the districts of this region. According to local gazetteers, in eastern Raozhou and in Guangxin prefecture, the total production of rice was not sufficient for local consumption for the whole of the year. This was primarily because the high profitability from cash crops and handicraft products — both of which were in greater demand in other areas of China — kept the local population tied to commercial production. Tea was the most extensively grown cash crop. Famous tea regions were Shangrao, Dexing, Yushan, and Fouliang districts. They produced more than two-thirds of the total output of the province. Leping district was famous for its indigo all over China. Cotton was mostly produced in the western districts. The output of tobacco was high in Guangfeng, Xinfeng, Boyang, and Pengze; and significant amounts of ramie were grown in Jiujiang, Shan-grao, Dean, and Linchuan districts of the region.

The general cropping pattern, as illustrated in a survey of Guangfeng district, indicates that on high-quality wetland, peasants cultivated either one crop each of rice, soybeans, and sesame or two crops of rice and one of sesame. On the medium-quality land, rice and soybeans were planted once. The low-quality wetland was reserved for the cultivation of late rice. Similarly, the better-quality highland areas were used for the production of tobacco leaves once in three years and other crops once in two years. Maize, millet, beans, sweet potatoes, and other crops were cultivated in inferior-quality highland soil. Bamboo, tea, and ramie were grown on the sunny side of the highlands.

In Guangfeng district, agricultural production remained generally good. The convexo-concave shape of the earth created numerous small natural ponds. Filled by rain water, they were extensively used for irrigation during mild droughts. Moreover, because of the comparatively small volume of water and the existence of high hills near the source of the Xin River, there was normally less danger of the river bursting its banks and flooding the land in the district. All this contributed to the reaping of good harvests year after year.

Other districts of the Xinjiang region did not have such a protected geographic location. Areas around Lake Poyang and the valleys of the Xin and Rao rivers frequently suffered from summer floods. In describing the countryside bordering on the Xin River between Yushan and Guangxin fu, Staunton noted in his travel diary that "for a distance of some miles, indeed, on every side of it, the face of the country is one wild and morassy waste, covered with reeds and bushes, and entirely inundated for a part of the year." Midsummer rain frequently flooded a large area of low-lying land. Agricultural production thus, to a large extent, remained dependent upon the natural climate remaining benign.

Rural Industry and Commerce

Increasing exploitation of the highlands and the introduction of new hybrid varieties of both subsistence and cash crops enormously raised the total output of agricultural production. Beginning with the late sixteenth century, the "revolution in land utilization," as it was termed by Ho Ping-ti, promoted economic and commercial activities and stimulated the rural handicraft industry in the whole of the Xinjiang region. Location of this region on the main trade route connecting Beijing with Guangdong as well as access to the important route from the north, which went along the Xin to Zhejiang and Fujian, facilitated movement of the locally produced goods to larger markets. Robert Fortune, who visited this area after the Opium War, found these trade routes commercially very active and lively, always full of porters carrying goods for the market. After reaching the district of Yushan through the trade route linking Jiangxi with Zhejiang and Fujian, he noted: "Coolies were now met in great numbers, loaded with tea-chests. Many of them carried only one chest. These I was told were finer teas; the chest was never allowed to touch the ground. ... Tea grown and manufactured here can of course be conveyed to the great export marts of Shanghai and Canton [Guangzhou] much quicker and more cheaply than those from the southern side of the Bohea mountains."

In 1928, traveling along the Xin River, Zhou Jie found the region to be one of the richest and commercially most active in the province. He wrote that the region received from Jiangsu, and especially Shanghai, silk and satin, cotton fabrics, kerosene, and white crystal sugar; from Zhejiang, salt and Shao wine; and from Hankou, medicines and cotton. The total volume of trade was estimated to be not less than one million yuan. Expansion of trade, particularly long-distance trade, turned the traditional towns of Jiujiang, Hekou, and Jingdezhen into major industrial and commercial centers. Until the use of foreign and native steam-powered cargo ships and subsequent developments decreased the importance of these traditional trade routes, trade and commerce thrived in the region.

Among the rural handicrafts, the most important was the processing of tea. Primitive tea-processing work was part of the peasant home-industry in almost all the districts of the region. But it was more widespread in the famous tea-producing areas of Shangrao, Dexing, Yushan, and Fouliang. The home-processed black and green tea was usually sold to the tea hongs or merchants in the city who "fired" the tea and sorted it according to its quality for sale in larger internal and external markets. The city of Hekou was the major local tea market. After British occupation of the Jiujiang district, large tea-processing units began to be established there. This, coupled with decreasing demands for Chinese tea in international markets, later led to the decline of the home-based tea industry of this region.

The production of a large quantity of bamboo and other trees on agriculturally unsuitable highlands of the region promoted the growth of timber and paper industries. Booming profits in such activities expanded cultivation of bamboo even on good fertile land and attracted a greater number of peasant households to paper production, including even those whose entire capital comprised the kettle used for preparing paper pulp. Qianshan, Guangfeng, Dexing, and Guixi districts were the major paper producing centers, where more than two hundred varieties of paper were made. There was a great demand for the paper in other provinces, and peasants often sold their home-produced paper to local business agents who dyed and exported it.

Another important rural household industry was connected with the production of textiles. Cotton was produced in all the districts of the region. Almost half of the total output was hand-spun locally, and yarn thus manufactured supplemented the income of the peasants. Spinning and weaving kept peasants, especially women, busy after the end of the agricultural season. Landlords and rich peasants often possessed three to four looms and hired labor for the production of textiles. The local xiabu (summer linen), made out of ramie, was famous all over China. Its export to different provinces and also to Korea fetched good profits.

Linked to textile manufacturing was the indigo-based rural dyeing industry. The districts of Leping, Boyang, Dean, Wannian, Linchuan, and Dexing produced the finest-quality indigo in China. It was prepared by soaking the liaotan plant overnight in lime water and beating it with wooden rods the next day. Processed indigo usually sold for about twenty Chinese dollars per tan and was mainly exported.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Peasant Society and Marxist Intellectuals in China by Kamal Sheel. Copyright © 1989 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

• FrontMatter, pg. i
• Contents, pg. vii
• Tables, pg. ix
• Preface, pg. xi
• Map, pg. xviii
• Chapter One. The Xinjiang Region, pg. 3
• Chapter Two. Impact of the Taiping Rebellion on Rural Areas in the Xinjiang Region, pg. 22
• Chapter Three. New Pressures on Small Rural Cultivators: Imperialism, the State, and the Small-Peasant Economy, pg. 42
• Chapter Four. The Landed Upper Class and the Crisis of Paternalism, pg. 66
• Chapter Five. Exploitation, Protests, and Uprisings, pg. 91
• Chapter Six. Fang Zhimin: The Rise of a Revolutionary Peasant Leader, pg. 136
• Chapter Seven. The United Front in Jiangxi: Urban Forces and the Organization of the Peasant Association Movement, 1924—1927, pg. 172
• Chapter Eight. From Peasant Movement to Communist Revolution: Revolutionary Intellectuals and Peasants in the Xinjiang Region, pg. 193
• Chapter Nine. Conclusion, pg. 231
• References, pg. 243
• Index, pg. 255

Editorial Reviews

This history begins with the impact of the Taiping Rebellion and proceeds to document the rapid disintegration of the small peasant economy under the pressures of world economics, a and a qualitatively different landed upper class. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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