清末政府励农政策与农会之兴

The Policy of Government and the Popularity of Peasant Association in the late Qing Dynasty

清朝末年,面临甲午战后民族危机的加深与农业生产的衰微,清政府谕允饬令各地遍设农会,希图利用民间力量与官方力量共同振兴农业,摆脱国用匮绌的窘境。同时,实业救国人士的倡导、资产阶级维新派的吁请、上海农学会学术研究团体的创设等,对政府敦本重农、批饬成立农会组织均起到了重要的推动作用。清末农会肇始于1907年7月成立的直隶农务总会,随后,其他各省相继创办,并开展了编辑农报,翻译农书;创办农业学堂;开办农业试验场;举行农产品评会,设立陈列所;植树造林以及农业调查等一系列农事活动,发挥了"整理农业之枢纽"的作用。清末农会无疑是一种具有近代组织制度特征的新式社团,但实质上又是一种受到官府监督、绅商控制的尚不成熟的农民团体,其在推动近代中国农业发展和维护农民利益方面的作用也是有限的。

In the late Qing Dynasty, faced with the deepende national crisis and the decline of agriucltural prodaction, the Qing government permitted the establishment of peasant association in order to revitalize agriculture and get out of the scrapes of insufficient national expenditures. At the meantime, the business circle, the capitalist class and the research organization all playeol vital part in promoting the establishment of peasant associations. The Zhili General Farming Meeting was set up in July, 1907, then other pro- vincial peasant associations were formed. A series of agriacltural related activities were canied out, such as, running newspapers, translating books, running schools, setting up experimental farms, etc. Undoubtedly, those peasant associations in the late Qins Dynasty were new groups with some features of modern organization systems while in fact, they were immature peasant groups controlled by government and official businessmen. They played limited part in pushing the development of modern Chinese agriculture and defendigpeasants ＇ interests.