In the 1939 New County Reforms, the Nationalist government made the baojia system the lowest level of self-government in the country. This decision was the result of more than ten years of discussion among Nationalist...In the 1939 New County Reforms, the Nationalist government made the baojia system the lowest level of self-government in the country. This decision was the result of more than ten years of discussion among Nationalist administrators and writers who were searching for a tutelary system to train the people in their political rights in preparation for constitutional rule. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nationalist writers claimed to be following Sun Zhongshan＇s （Sun Yat-sen） philosophy by reinventing the baojia as a form of democracy. Harkening back to a reimagined national past, they ＂discovered＂ that the imperial baojia was not a system of local control, but a traditional model of bureaucratically-designed local self-government. Nationalist writers dovetailed this new baojia with Sun Zhongshan＇s philosophy in order to rationalize its position as the foundation of the Three Principles of the People State. Once philosophically legitimized, Nationalist writers endorsed the baojia as a top-down bureaucratic system that would transform the political, social, and economic life of the country; it would become the core political unit of their state-making and nation-building projects. In so doing, the baojia came to represent the Nationalists＇ deeply-held belief in the power of human agency to create state institutions capable of entirely remaking society and transforming the nation.展开更多
Mobilizing men to serve in the army was one of the fundamental tasks of the Nationalist government during the Anti-Japanese War （1937-45）. Using ground-level conscription cases from counties around Chongqing, this p...Mobilizing men to serve in the army was one of the fundamental tasks of the Nationalist government during the Anti-Japanese War （1937-45）. Using ground-level conscription cases from counties around Chongqing, this paper examines wartime rural administration. In interior areas, the draft rested on rural administrators, the recently revived baojia system. The baofia heads were in a difficult position： the state demanded full quotas of draftees, while residents tried to leverage bureaucratic discipline by filing accusations against them with higher ups. Their divided loyalties produced both predation and protection. Alongside the familiar stories of predatory extortion and press-gang conscription, baojia leaders also acted in ways that were protective of their neighbours and communities. The patterns of draft-related cases in rural Sichuan revise our picture of baojia leaders as unchecked bullies and thus throw new light on both the KMT＇s war effort and its state-making.展开更多
文摘In the 1939 New County Reforms, the Nationalist government made the baojia system the lowest level of self-government in the country. This decision was the result of more than ten years of discussion among Nationalist administrators and writers who were searching for a tutelary system to train the people in their political rights in preparation for constitutional rule. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nationalist writers claimed to be following Sun Zhongshan＇s （Sun Yat-sen） philosophy by reinventing the baojia as a form of democracy. Harkening back to a reimagined national past, they ＂discovered＂ that the imperial baojia was not a system of local control, but a traditional model of bureaucratically-designed local self-government. Nationalist writers dovetailed this new baojia with Sun Zhongshan＇s philosophy in order to rationalize its position as the foundation of the Three Principles of the People State. Once philosophically legitimized, Nationalist writers endorsed the baojia as a top-down bureaucratic system that would transform the political, social, and economic life of the country; it would become the core political unit of their state-making and nation-building projects. In so doing, the baojia came to represent the Nationalists＇ deeply-held belief in the power of human agency to create state institutions capable of entirely remaking society and transforming the nation.
文摘Mobilizing men to serve in the army was one of the fundamental tasks of the Nationalist government during the Anti-Japanese War （1937-45）. Using ground-level conscription cases from counties around Chongqing, this paper examines wartime rural administration. In interior areas, the draft rested on rural administrators, the recently revived baojia system. The baofia heads were in a difficult position： the state demanded full quotas of draftees, while residents tried to leverage bureaucratic discipline by filing accusations against them with higher ups. Their divided loyalties produced both predation and protection. Alongside the familiar stories of predatory extortion and press-gang conscription, baojia leaders also acted in ways that were protective of their neighbours and communities. The patterns of draft-related cases in rural Sichuan revise our picture of baojia leaders as unchecked bullies and thus throw new light on both the KMT＇s war effort and its state-making.
