Land Tenure Distribution · Farmhouse Economy · Village Community: Rural Shandong, 1900–1945

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Features: "Lixu Society" is an entity concept rather than a value concept rooted in Chinese local society, and it provides a comprehensive rather than a partial summary of Chinese society. The establishment of this concept is highly effective in explaining the distribution of rural land in modern China. For example, the system of weights and measures was a crucial issue in the distribution of rural land in modern China. Until the Republican era, there was no unified standard for weights and measures across different regions, primarily relying on local trading customs. In Shandong's Yanzhou and Gansu's Fuxiang County, there were even cases where one hundred jin of wheat was considered one dou, while in Shandong's Teng County, one hundred and fifty jin was counted as one dou. The confusion in the mu system was simply unbearable. Even today, rural Chinese society still primarily regulates social relationships through folk customs. In land use activities such as water conservancy and irrigation, as well as labor cooperation, clan ethics serve as the fundamental value orientation of the "Lixu Society." The rural Chinese society is not a utopia isolated from urban society, but urbanization has led to the underdevelopment of rural socio-economy, resulting in a dualistic structure between urban and rural economies and societies. The coexistence of urbanization and the lagging rural economy in modern times is indeed a stark historical reality. Chen Bozhuang depicted the urban-rural disparities along the Pinghan Railway: "The Yellow River Basin, known as the cradle of Chinese civilization, but how were the farmers' lives? They lived in dilapidated earthen walls, grass huts, and thatched cottages, dark and cramped, with no air or light. Livestock roamed together, which was not considered strange. Rice was a luxury, like meat, only available during festivals. Cabbage and radishes were boiled in plain water, fearing the waste of oil, and sometimes even salt was too expensive to be used." "This cave-like and wild life, coexisting with skyscrapers in modern times, truly feels like a time mismatch." The dualistic structure of urban-rural socio-economy cannot be further explained by Western modernization theories, but development theories originating from underdeveloped countries share value-level isomorphism and entity-level similarity with the analysis of Chinese society. From the construction of the entity model and the transformation of the analytical paradigm, two basic methods of historical research can be summarized. History is "total history," and historical studies should also be an integrated historical social science, a view that was early proposed and specifically applied in historical research by the founders of the Annales School, Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. Therefore, interdisciplinary research methods should be adopted in specific research processes. As mentioned earlier, when analyzing the relationship between humans and nature, as well as between the state and society, centered around land issues, multidisciplinary and multi-dimensional understanding is necessary. Comprehensive research involving geology, meteorology, botany, ecology, geography, philosophy, economics, sociology, law, politics, ethics, folklore, anthropology, and statistics is essential. If still confined to the narrow perspective of traditional political economy, statically studying only the production relations, the result will only be the accumulation of historical materials and the endless repetition of previous research findings. Croce said, "All history is contemporary history"; Collingwood stated, "All history is the history of thought." Historians cannot study knowledge without thought; the value judgments of the research subject inevitably blend into the research object. However, there is a fundamental methodological principle: value judgments should be based on factual judgments, not the other way around. The construction of the entity model is an analytical framework based on the objective description of nature and social order, rather than a value system. Through the analysis of the transformation of the analytical paradigm, the two major characteristics of modern Chinese society—Lixu Society and the dualistic structure of urban-rural society—are ultimately concluded as entity concepts rather than value concepts. If this is used as a paradigm for historical writing in modern Chinese history, it can avoid the academic flaw of preconceived value judgments shaping historical facts. Due to the neglect of water conservancy, the deterioration of embankments, the siltation of waterways, and the natural cause of concentrated rainfall, Shandong has experienced frequent floods. Records show that from the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty to 1937, there were over 70 major floods, with 15 of them affecting more than 10 counties. Due to the uneven distribution of rainfall throughout the year, droughts often followed floods. According to the Shanghai Gazette, in the third year of the Guangxu era (1877), the people in Qingzhou lived in extreme hardship due to a two-year drought, "maize had been exhausted, and the only food available to the people was bran and the skins of gourds (the original text uses 'ru'—translator's note), as well as the bark and roots of high-quality grass and grass seeds." Between 1929 and 1930, 48 counties in Shandong suffered from severe droughts, with crop yields reduced to 10% to 30%. Prolonged droughts also bred locusts, leading to locust plagues. "In southern and western Shandong, locusts swarmed everywhere due to drought, or frost and hail devastated the crops, leaving nothing behind." Floods, droughts, and locust plagues had a devastating impact on the production and lives of Shandong farmers. "Western Shandong is poor and barren, suffering from floods and droughts. This year (referring to 1934—the translator's note), the (flood break) in Changyuan, and the areas of Puyang, Shouzhang, Fanxian in western Shandong, suffered severe floods again, with autumn crops also being lost, resulting in no harvest." Jining "was not considered a particularly disaster-stricken area last year (referring to 1934—the translator's note), but in the southwestern parts of the city, it had already become 'sailing on land'! In the area of Tangkou in the west of the city, it is said to be the most severely affected area, almost completely submerged last year, still unable to be farmed. The earth, after exposure to the summer sun, had gradually dried on the surface, but the inner layers still contained water, causing the ground to collapse into pits several feet deep and about a foot wide, making it dangerous to walk without caution!" The village of Laowazi in Tai'an County often suffered from floods and droughts, and locust plagues also occurred occasionally. In 1940, when a surveyor from the South Manchurian Railway Company visited the village, the villagers still remembered the locust plague of the summer of 1928: "A large swarm of locusts darkened the sky from the south, devouring all the crops on the ground in an instant." Prolonged droughts bred locusts, leading to locust plagues. However, Professor Huang Zongzhi, in his research on the agricultural ecology of North China, described: "In the poorly drained eastern part of the Hebei Plain and the northern part of Shandong, heavy rains in July and August often cause waterlogging. In the most severely affected areas, the land turns into marshes, breeding locusts and becoming another major natural disaster in the region." Based on the oral history collected from elderly villagers in rural areas (my hometown is Chengwu County in southwestern Shandong), locust plagues followed droughts. Verifying with the aforementioned data, it appears that Professor Huang Zongzhi's statement lacks historical evidence and the support of rural life experience, making it incorrect. In the evolution of agricultural ecosystems, natural environmental factors such as terrain, climate, soil, rivers, and disasters exist in a complex relationship of mutual influence and constraint. Since the perspective of agricultural ecosystems is centered on land use, the interaction of these natural environmental elements lies in their impact on soil types and soil changes. Logically speaking, the next step is to analyze the role of these natural environmental elements, centered on the land use system, in agricultural cultivation systems and farmland water conservancy. When Yang He had not yet completed the previous contractual relationship, he had already completed a land sale transaction with Yang Si, targeting the same piece of land. Since Yang He did not return the redemption price, Yang Liu's family still retained the right to occupy the land, making it inevitable for the dispute over land ownership between Yang Si and Yang Liu's family. The elderly Yang Liu was ultimately beaten to death by Yang Si. In the case of a "live sale" of land, even if it occurred long ago, the original seller could still redeem it. In this case, the understanding of all three parties was consistent that, according to rural customs, redemption was still possible. According to the Da Qinglüli, if a property sale exceeded 30 years without a "permanent sale" clause, it was considered a permanent sale and redemption was not allowed. However, rural customary law conflicts with written law. Yang He and the intermediaries Yang An and Li Lun stated in their confessions: "We are ignorant villagers, unaware of the laws, and believed that a live contract should be redeemable." In the year 1778 (the 43rd year of the Qianlong era), Li Songlin, a landlord in Pingdu City, attempted to redeem 2 mu of land sold 40 years ago to Li Zhao in Liyuan Village. Over the 40 years, the ownership had changed several times, with the current owner being Zhu Decai. According to rural customs, permanently sold land could not be redeemed, leading to a dispute where Li Songlin was killed. Many rural customs related to land ownership are still prevalent, such as the so-called "face" of an intermediary, which can help one party in the transaction gain certain benefits. Of course, the transaction costs for land sales involving intermediaries will increase accordingly. In land sales, clans and neighbors have the right of first refusal. Due to the logical structure of this book, these folk customs related to changes in land ownership will be discussed in later chapters. In Xinci Village in Gaoyang County, northern Shandong Plain, "labor cooperation was entirely emotional. They didn't care if one household did more or less work." For example, Zhang Dquan and Zhang Fuhàn of Renhe Tang partnered in farming. Renhe Tang had 43.2 mu of land, fewer but younger livestock, and tools; Zhang Fuhàn had 34.2 mu of land and only one livestock. They only farmed and considered the job done. Five small self-cultivating households from the same clan—Zhang Jingkong (14.4 mu of land, one strong laborer, one donkey), Zhang Jingxu (13.57 mu of land, one strong laborer), Zhang Jingrong (11.52 mu of land, one strong laborer), Zhang Jingyan (11.52 mu of land, one strong laborer), and Zhang Jingmeng (14.4 mu of land, two strong laborers)—shared a set of farming tools, with only Zhang Jingkong having a donkey. They farmed together every year. Zhang Zhaolin, Wu Xianzhang, Zhang Fengtong, and Zhang Zhaoyuan jointly invested in an archery workshop and farmed together as well. The four households shared two donkeys and 58.32 mu of land, enough to plow all the land with the livestock pulling the bows. In labor cooperation, there was also an example of Zhang Mingjing and Zhang Jianquan farming together. Similar examples of labor cooperation were numerous in the village. During the war, with a significant reduction in farm animals, this form of cooperative farming developed even further. In Xinci Village, the formation of labor cooperation relationships in "helping and pairing" was guided by the value orientation of clan ethics. In the labor combination of the five small self-cultivating households led by Zhang Jingkong, the land holdings of Jingkong and Jingmeng, as well as Jingrong and Jingyan, were exactly equal. This was not a mere statistical coincidence but likely the result of two pairs of brothers who had recently divided their property. According to the author's observations in rural Shandong, these two pairs of brothers, plus Zhang Jingxu, were likely from the same clan within the five-clan system. Labor cooperation styles like those in Xinci Village were undoubtedly very common in rural Shandong in modern times. The institutional expression of rural production relations cannot be analyzed simply and formally within the narrow perspective of traditional economic history. In the next chapter, when discussing the differentiation and integration of village communities, I will further explore the family system background of such labor cooperation relationships. In the resource allocation of village communities, single-clan villages often cooperate or conflict based on the "branches" or "doors" within the clan. In multi-clan villages, the allocation of interests affecting the entire village is carried out among the various clan groups. In both types of villages, having a large population and influence is a prerequisite for one "branch" or one clan to dominate, which is their common point. Tai'tou Village in Jiaozhou is a multi-clan village with three major clans—Pan, Chen, and Yang—as well as other smaller clans. The Pan clan is the largest, divided into several branches, though living in relatively scattered areas, they still have a strong clan cohesion in the allocation of village community interests. The Chen and Yang clans are basically residentially concentrated. Competition within the village occurs between the Pan clan and the Chen and Yang clans. The Pan and Chen clans also frequently engage in physical fights. The Pan and Chen, Yang clans once engaged in a prolonged struggle over control of school management. The village school was originally a private academy of the Pan clan, but later, the Chen and Yang clans, feeling that their children were not treated equally in school, established their own primary school. After the implementation of the "New Policies" in 1900, state power penetration into villages increased, and Christianity was also introduced to the area. As a result, the original Pan clan academy became a public primary school, recognized and funded by the county government, while the other school became a church school. The struggle for public funds between the two schools intensified. To ease tensions, a system of zoned, nearby school attendance was adopted, but when someone proposed merging the two schools' assets, the conflict erupted again. The Pan clan believed that the purpose of the merger was to undermine their clan's position in the village, leading to heightened antagonism between clans. At the time, the village head was a Pan, and thus favored his own clan when resolving disputes. In multi-clan villages, especially those located in market towns, numerous clans of different surnames exist. Although there are conflicts of interest among the clans, as none or only a few clans dominate in population or other resources, the clans tend to form geographical alliances within the same village, known as "the eastern end of the village, the western end of the village," or "front street, back street." Panjiadian Village in Qihe County, as a relatively large local market town, is convenient for transportation and commerce, with a high population mobility. In the mid-1930s, it had over 800 households and about 5,000 people, with many clan types. In the allocation of public resources, geographical alliances were the primary basis. The establishment of the village school is a typical example of this issue. "In this town, every small area wanted to establish its own school independently, as those in charge of the school funds wanted to keep the management power in their hands. However, it was impossible in reality, as the limited school funds could not support a school if they were scattered, and teachers' salaries could not be reduced to the minimum due to fewer students. Therefore, five or six villages combined to establish a primary school. Now, the town has three primary schools—one in the west, one in the north, and one in the east and south. The students in the west street school are usually between 30 and 40, while the other two schools never have more than 30 students. These students are mostly children from families with over 30 mu of land, with a few families dedicated solely to farming, even if they have 30 to 40 mu of land, their children do not attend school. There are also a few ruffians, as their children have no daily chores at home, so they have more opportunities for education than landowners." In areas where clan organizations based on blood ties are relatively dispersed, geographical alliances based on local ties ("neighbors") become inevitable. The scale of land ownership per household and differences in occupations also lead to certain social differentiation among the residents of Panjiadian, so the geographical integration is carried out on the basis of social differentiation.