定县调查:中国农村社会调查的里程碑

The Survey of Ding County:The landmark of social surveys of rural China

在民国社会调查中,定县调查时间之长、内容之丰富以及影响之大,皆可谓独树一帜、声誉远播。这是中国历史上第一次县级范围的大规模调查,它以服务定县实验工作为首要,也为中国社会经济的发展寻找出路,还有为实现社会科学本土化而努力的雄心。这一调查遇到的困难超乎想象,但与其他调查相比,又有难得的定县实验区支撑,尤其是人才和经费的优势,从而为调查成功奠定了坚实基础。在具体调查过程中,定县调查既重视和利用了非正式权力资源,也借助了官方的权力资源,更为突出的是采用了先进的现代调查方法,使其成为中国社会调查的里程碑式成果。这一成果既提供了大量客观的社会事实,又提出了富有价值的社会改革意见,也为我们留下了宝贵的传统文化遗产,构成中国社会学史的重要篇章。其调查内容还可供社会学者、人类学者作为探讨社会变迁的基线,也成为历史学者尤其是近代中国乡村社会经济学者最有力的论据之一。

The survey of Ding County of Hebei province in Republic of China gained extreme fame and developed a school of its own for long-time survey,rich contents and great influences.Compared with others,the survey had the hard-won support from experimental area of Ding County,especially the advantage of talents and finances,all of the which laid a foundation for the success of the survey.During the process of the survey,both unofficial and official resources were valued and used.Advanced modern survey methods were introduced in this survey,which made the survey become the landmark of the social survey in China.The survey has collected a large number of objective social facts,proposed valuable suggestions on the soical reforms,and left us precious traditional cultural heritages,which has become an important part of the history of Chinese sociology.