<Articles>Rural Society in Guangdong during the Early 1920s : Chen Jiongming's Local Autonomy Policy in Terms of Lineage Groups

In this paper, the author analyses the influence of the local autonomy policies of Chen Jiongming (陳炯明), who was the governor of Guangdong province in the Second Guangdong Military Government (第二次広東軍政府), on rural society and discusses the structure of rural society in Guangdong during the early 1920s. Research on this period has mostly focused on the opposing political opinions of Chen and Sun Yatsen (孫中山), known as the Father of the Nation (国父), specifically, the fact that Chen gave priority to unifying Guangdong province over national unification, while Sun gave priority to national unification itself However, the author avoids these broader issues and tries to reveal the actual conditions in Guangdong rural society at that time by analysing the influence of Chen's local autonomy policies on rural society and the lineage groups (宗族) there. In section one, the author outlines Chen's local autonomy policies and shows that under his influence, people initiated new autonomous organizations with the aim of preparing and advancing local autonomy. Interestingly, the local elites, who had been concerned with local autonomy from the late Qing period, were deeply involved in their establishment. In this sense, the development of local autonomy in 1920s was an extension of the trend toward autonomy begun in the late Qing. Moreover, dominant lineage groups had an impact on the election of the county governor (県長) and county assemblymen (県議会議員), who played essential roles in local autonomy, through their participation in election campaigns. As a result of an electoral system in which the views of the provincial governor held great weight, a man who had contributed to the Xinhai (辛亥) Revolution was elected on the basis of the governor's advocacy. Nevertheless, more assemblymen were elected to the county assembly from influential lineage groups, and this demonstrates that a consistent concern with local autonomy was maintained by lineage groups from the late Qing onward. In section two, the author focuses on the rural movement for local autonomy. In view of the traditional autonomy movement based on lineage groups, Chen planned for rural-level local autonomy (区自治). At that time, the rural youth not only expanded the theory of local autonomy, but also established an autonomous association based on self-defense (民団・郷団). Through these activities, we can see their strong concern with local autonomy. In their autonomism, they selected eight maxims from the Great Learning (大学) that they considered as the essential foundations of autonomy. In other words, the unity of the lineage group, which meant traditional activities that promoted the autonomy of the lineages group, was seen as equivalent to local autonomy. Section three gives further consideration to the conflicting opinions of the young and the old regarding autonomism in rural society and also Chen's opinion on the conflict. Rural youth insisted on integrating or abolishing ancestral shrines and rituals in order to come up with funds for local autonomy. However, this position was opposed by rural elders, who attempted to preserve the traditional lineage system. In other words, the generational conflict within the lineage group was caused by the different opinions regarding the form of the lineage group. In this circumstance, Chen worked out policies on the lineage's common property (嘗産) and the private school (私塾) as part of educational reformation. The former was designed to produce educational expenses, while the latter was intended to modernize traditional education. Under the influence of these policies, rural elders started to lose their advantages and their positions as teachers of Confucian morals and knowledge. Eventually, they lost their positions and prestige and had to accept the view of local autonomism advocated by the youth. The youth, who were influenced by the New Culture Movement (新文化運動), which embodied social trends for modernization, advocated local autonomy in rural Gua