从传统走向现代:一个江南市镇社会结构在近代的嬗变

From Tradition to Modernity: A Case Study of the Social Structure Change of a Small-town in Modern China

对于近代中国的变化,学术界以往较多关注于宏观上,至于乡村社会包括市镇的变迁则研究较少。如果对乡村社会变化缺乏了解,那么,也就难以对宏观有准确和深刻的认识。通过对南浔的社会结构(职业与阶层、家庭结构和社会组织)在近代中国所发生的变化的研究,可以揭示出传统的江南市镇在中国近代转轨过程中如何变化发展。研究发现,与政治、经济等方面相比,南浔社会结构的变化要缓慢得多,并且只是局部上的变异而非整体性的转型,但是,这些变化本身表明高度稳定的中国传统社会结构松动了,并开始向新的社会结构形态演进。

After 1840 China began to enter a modern stage of development in terms of its social structure. On the one hand, China's traditional mode of production and social structure evolved gradually, while on the other hand, its way to modernization didn't run smoothly, for Western culture and the values of modern industrial civilization made impact on the Chinese tradition. And traditional small-towns in the Jiangnan region (for example, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces) witnessed the gradual change of their social structure and life, especially after the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368—1911). The said change—a manifestation at the social basic level—was an important reflection of China's social transition in modern times.This paper explores the social structure transition or evolution of Nanxun, a small-town in the Jiangnan in China's modern times (1840—1949) by examining three aspects of social structure: occupations and strata, family structure, and social organizations. The data set for this research comes mainly from several local chronicles and local newspapers published in the 1930s and 1940s, archives, a survey report conducted in 1932, and the author's own fieldwork.The career women in Nanxun worked mainly in the silk spinning industry and service. First of all, a key finding of this paper is that there emerged some new occupations that to some extent changed Nanxun's traditional stratum structure. Traditionally, scholars, peasants, workers, and businessmen comprised China's social strata. But the traditional economy was gradually transformed with the development of modern industry that had an impact on rural society, resulting in some changes in social structure. Some of the traditional gentries became a new stratum: modern intelligentsia. Also, the number of people who worked in the industrial and business sector increased with a corresponding rise in their social status. At the same time, there appeared some new occupations such as modern industrial workers and professions in Nanxun. Interestingly, the women in rural China began to join the work force, forming an integral part of it. The career women in Nanxun worked mainly in the said industry and service.These occupational and social strata changes came to affect family relationships, and in turn reflected these changes. The family structure in Nanxun also experienced a slight change, some practices of the modern family influencing the practices in Nanxun town. This paper demonstrates that the marriageable age in Nanxun deferred, while women' status had risen, resulting in changes in the family relationship. In particular, the increase in women's financial independence and their rise in social status led to changes in terms of their rights within the family. At the very least, the former family rights model with husbands and their mothers (or their wives' mothers-in-law) playing a dominant role had become flexible, indicating that the family relationship in modern commercial towns was shifting in the direction of an equal rights model. The paper also finds some changes in social organizations and particularly in nonprofit organizations in Nanxun, which indicates the birth of a nascent non-governmental society in Chinese small-towns. On the one hand, traditional guild-halls (huiguan) and trade councils (gongsuo) were transformed into modern chambers of commerce. On the other hand, some distinctive changes and characteristics such as the standardization and institutionalization in the structure and activities, as well as the development of a pluralistic support base in nonprofit organizations in Nanxun began to appear.Finally, this paper concludes that in comparison with the changes in the economic and political realms, the change of social structure in modern Nanxun was much slower and less extensive. Nevertheless, the changes in the three areas outlined above imply that the traditional social structure in Nanxun had undergone a fundamental transformation, one that would bring it in the direction of a more modern social structure.