1936 the good earth of china's model province

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The Good Earth of China's Model ProvinceAuthor(s): Chen Han-SengSource: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Sep., 1936), pp. 370-380Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British ColumbiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2750650 .

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THE GOOD EARTH OF CHINA'S MODEL PROVINCE

CHEN HAN-SENG

IHE solution f theagrarian roblemn China has been at-temptedoth nrevolutionarynd n reformistays: he edistributionfland n KiangsiProvinceythe Chinese oviets,nd the reductionfrentn Chekiang rovince ytheKuomintang overnment.orere-

centlynewreformistrogramasbeen dvocatednShansi,nceknownas the ModelProvince,"yGeneral enHsi-shan, ho wishes oestab-lish systemf"public wnershipf andbythevillage" ogetheritha governmentonopolyfagriculturalarketing.

Early n Augustof lastyear, ieutenant-Colonelaira Takahashi,actings a personalgent fJapanesemperialism,rought eneral en,chairmanf the PacificationommissionfShansi nd Suiyiian,nd

General u Tso-yi,hairmanftheprovincialovernmentfSuiyfian,oa politicalndmilitaryonferencenTaiyfian,he apital f Shansi. heostensiblessueputforwardytheJapanese ilitarygentwasa unitedfront etweenhegenerals nd Japan gainst he Chinese ommunists.Halfa yearater,nFebruary,936, heChineseRedArmy nderMaoTse-tungnd Hsii Hai-tung ctually rossed he Yellow River andmarchedastwardnto hansi.twas nbetweenhese wofatefulventsinShansi, en'srapprochementithJapanndthe dvance f the nti-

Japanese ed Army, hatGeneralYen announced is new agrarianpolicy or isprovince.here sa goodreasonwhyGeneral en, s chiefspokesmanf the andlordsndmerchantsn Shansi, articularlyhoseof hemiddle art f heprovince,hould avemade uch proclamationat this riticalmoment.omeobservationsn thegeneral grarianitua-tion ndon therapid allingff f Shansi's sury nd trade apitalwillmake his lear.

The area of Shansi s i6i,842 squarekilometers,arger hanBulgaria,largerhanCzechoslovakiandmore han ive imes s large s Belgium,andit hasa populationf about 2 million,wice s big as that f Bul-garia.The landconcentrationnShansi, owever, as gonefurtherhaninanyoftheEuropean ountries. ithmoney apital iledup throughthe ong ccumulationfagriculturalent,heShansimerchants, oney

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exchangersnd bankersmadethemselvesowerful hroughouthinamany enerationsgo.Toward he ndofthe ighteenthentury,hansi

tradeapitaleachedts enith. fterhemiddle f henineteenthenturyitfaced series f business atastropheshich orehardon theShansimerchantsndforcedhem oretreatotheirwnprovince.he T'aip'inguprising ipedout numeroushansiwine merchantsnd money x-changersn thedeltaregions ftheYangtze ndthePearl River.TheRevolutionf 9ii drove heShansimoneyxchangersnd bankersutof Hankow nd other rosperousangtzeports nd out of Manchuriaas well. These disastrousxperiences ere repeatedfter heWorld

War,when hevery lourishingusinessftheShansimerchantsearKalgan nd nallMongoliawasutterlyuined,y he ancellationf allcommercialebts o theShansi raders hohadmonopolizedhetradeofOuterMongolia, nd also by the drastic evaluation f thepaperrouble.All thatwas leftbythenof the old sphere f Shansibusinessactivities as restrictedothemiddle angtze,nd even hiswasfinallybroken ownbytheRevolutionf 1925-27. After aving ustainedugelosses, heremnantf Shansi rade nd usury apital aturallyurnedts

controlnward, n Shansi tself. and investments,herefore,ecameheavier ndheavier,and ownership ore ndmore oncentrated,nd,up tothe astfewyears,andpriceswentup highernd higher.

Supposewetake ome f hedistrictsf asternhansi, nd seetowhatan extentheprocess f andconcentrationasgone.The statisticsorthese istrictsre compiled rom monthlyalledRural Construction,publishedn Chineseby the semi-governmentAssociation orRural

ReconstructionnShansi nd Suiyfian."TABLE I

Land ConcentrationnEastern hansi1930)

Kuohsien YflshE T'unliu andChangchih(NorthofT'aiyiian) (South ofT'aiyiian) (SouthofYfish8)

Rural Land Rural Land Rural LandFamilies Owned Families Owned Families Owned

SizeofOwnership er ent Per ent PerCent PerCent PerCent PerCent

Below30mu 48 I5 5 i6 86 3931 to 0...... 2.9 32. 2.8 30 7 I7Above5I mu 23 53 XII 54 7 44

(Onemusone ixth f nacre)

Families wningmore han 1 muof andhave n averagewnershipof73 mu in Kuohsien, 9 mu in Yiishe, nd 94 mu in T'unliu andChangchih.utthose wningessthan30 muof and have n average

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ownershipfonly o muinKuohsien, nly i muinYfishe,ndonly7 mu n T'unliu and Changchih.

These statistics, oreover,re takenfrom esidentialamilies nly;shouldwe count n the and ownedby the bsenteeandlords,he andconcentrationn these istricts ouldprove o be muchhigher. romanothermonthly, griculturalconomics, ublishedn Chinese nChingkiangVol. , No.3,pp. oi-io9), wemay nderstandhe itua-tion n the ingle istrictf T'unliu.

TABLE 2.

LandConcentrationn T'unliuDistrictI934)Average andowner- Index

RuralFamilies LandsOwned ship PerFamily NumbersPerCent Per Cent

Landlords ndRichPeasants I.9 33 3 583 100

Middle Peasants 68.3 6i.4 30 5Poor Peasants 29.8 5.3 6 I

In T'unliu nd other istrictsf southeasternhansi, here repropor-

tionately anyfewerandlordshan n theio central istrictsroundT'aiyiian.n the central artof theprovince, hereiniesthecapital,almost oper ent ftherural amiliesave n average oldingfaboutioo mu of andeach.Herethedegree f landconcentrations as highas in the Linho district f western uiyfian. he districtsroundT'aiyiian re,however,aturated ith andlords uch mallerhan hosein western uiyiian. ightvillages n Hsinchou, mmediatelyorth f

T'aiyiian,were nvestigateduring 932; theresultmaybe taken srepresentativef thecentral artof Shansi.Barely2 per centof therural amiliesreself-cultivating,percentpart-tenants,s many s 40percentexclusivelyenants,nd landlord amiliesmount o no lessthan 3 per ent.

North f theGreatWall, alongthePeiping-Suiyiianailway,n thevillageswellsettled or enturies,and concentrations rather imilar othat f easternuiyian nd westernhahar, ut s somewhatess than

in Linho ndT'aiyiian.n the hree istrictsfT'ienchen, angkao, ndTat'ung, ll located n therailway,elf-cultivatingeasants mount o30 percent f therural amilies,wning nly 5.5 percent f the and;butpure ndpart enants,orming1 percent f thefamilies,wn nomore han .5 percent f the and.Even n northernhansi, andlordsand richpeasantsorm 9 percent fthepopulationnd own as muchas 70 per ent fall the and.

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In therapid processof land concentration,hichup to 1931 was ag-gravatedbythe necessity or turning rade capital nto land investment,

the pricesof agriculturalands increased steadily. ndeed, the highestland prices n Shansi are to be found n and around GeneralYen's owndistrict fWut'ai, mmediately ortheast fHsinchou. Back in i929, in

his home village of Hopien, and in several biggervillages nearbysuchas Tungyehchen, he ordinaryprice of one mu of non-irrigatedandwas $200 silver, nd that of irrigatedand was $300.

Numerousmilitarynd civil officersn Shansi at that timecompetedin thepurchase f land. Prices wentup so high thateven $350 could

not induce anybody o sell one mu of irrigated and in Hopien andTungyehchen.n that same year,the land prices n Wenshui,a districtsouthwest f T'aiyfian,were $30 to $i20, with $50 as the commonestprice.

IN ORDER toappreciate he high land prices n Shansi,we may comparethemwiththoseof otherplaces,reducing ll figures o terms f silver

dollars nd ofmu of one sixthof an acre.In the farmore denselypopu-lated southern art of India, near Chitoor for instance, mu of non-

irrigated and costs only about $4. The Hudson's Bay Company inCanadasold ts and at $5.20 per muin 924. In Montana,heaveragecostofagriculturaland in I925 was $6.40 permu. The highest evel ofAmerican and priceswas in I920, and the mostexpensive egionwas inIowa; but thehighest eak price n Iowa during 920 was about$85 per

mu. Even today, he mostfertile rrigated ield n the Philippinescostsonly$15.62 silver, er mu.While we may regardthe land prices n Yen Hsi-shan'shome district

as exceptionally igh, otherdistrictshave also maintained quite highprices. Take Lich'eng, in southeastern hansi; Chaoch'eng in south-western hansi; Chiehhsien,n the extreme outhwest;Wenshui in the

middle of theprovince, nd Shuohsien,northof the Great Wall. In allthese districts,n I924, land prices were usually around$Ioo Mex. per

mu.Accordingto an investigation mong i,ooo Shansi soldiers, n I930,

to ascertain hechangesof land prices n theirrespective omedistricts,the averageof the lowestprices per mu in the I7 districts oncerned,distributedhroughouthe entire rovince, as $5.32 in I9I9, $7.78 inI924, and $17.90 in I929. We tabulateas followsthistendency owardprice ncrease ver a periodof io years:

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TABLE 3

GeneralndexNumbersfLandPricesn Shansi1919-1929)

I9I9 = I00

I924 1 929

DistrictsYinghsien.................. 394 870Chianghsien................ io6 696Kuohsien................... i85 653P'ingshun.................. I5I 630

Changchih .................0 2o6 502.Hsiahsien.................. I34 444

Kaop'ing ................... 275 4I7Shuohsien.................. 2o24 407

Chiehsiu................... I L L368Yfihhsien.................. 94 300Hsinchow.................. iii2I94Wut'ai . .................... I48 2.67Wenshui................... i29 2.45

Yangkao................... I53 i98Lingch'fian................. I59 i84Ch'iwo ..................... II7 i6oLich'eng ................... 2. 142.

Between 919 and i929, land prices n Shansi wentup by I50 to 500

per cent. Such a rapid rise is hardlyto be found n any otherChineseprovince. ven in Kuangtung,where the overseasChinese have sentsomuchmoneyhometo invest n land, prices n variousdistricts, etweeni9i6 and i926, wentup only 6o to 300 per cent. During the same ioyears, and prices n Liaoning went up generallyby 6oo per cent; butthat was chiefly ue to the extraordinary evaluationof the Fengp'iao

paper currencyssued in Mukden.In Shansi,therapidriseofland prices n thedistrictsfChianghsien,

Kuohsien, P'ingshun, nd Changchih was due to a simultaneous ise ingrain prices,while in the case of Yinghsien t was simply matter fland improvement hrough rrigation.A politician,once active in thepro-Japanese nfu clique, started some irrigationwork in Yinghsien

during 9I8; he reclaimed, hrough he district overnment,many arge

tracts f land. His son,T'ien Tsin-fu,possessesno less than 20,000 muin his home district lone. In Shansi, generally peaking, and tax andother evies assessed on land were comparativelyight up to the year

I930. This, and to a limitedextentthe devaluation of Shansi paper

moneysince I929, may also account for the rapid rise of land pricesthroughoutheprovince.

The year 93I, after disastrous ivil war in which Feng Yui-hsiang

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and Yen Hsi-shan eredefeated yChiangK'ai-shek,marked turningpointnGeneral en's nternalolicyn Shansi.His money anout,his

industrieserebankrupt,e was in desperateeedofready ash.Tomakemoneys quickly s possible ecamehisnewpolicy. hough searly s i928 all poppieswere xterminatedn Shansi nd all sellers fopium were severely unished, a new bureau was set up in I93I todistribute pium on a grander cale, under thebeautiful ame of govern-ment suppression.Alongside of innocuous anti-opiumpamphlets,theshowingof educational inemas, nd the postingof placards in schools,thereare numerous anti-opium"pills which are only Io per cent pre-

ventive nd fullygo per cent opium. These pills are now on sale every-where n the capital, long the railwayand in themarket owns. Everydistrictmagistrateells pills. He may receive rom hepostoffice s muchas 6oo poundsof pills at one time.The villageheads thenreceivepillsfromhim, and distribute hem further mong the licensed shops. Themagistrates nd village heads profit y this trade; but at the same timethey could not hold office nless they were active in furthering hegovernment olicy.

Today theShansi Opium Monopoly s notoriously ich. t leviesa landtax of $6.oo per mu on the opium fields n southern uiyfian. urther-more, Yen Hsi-shan compels the opium-growing easants to sell theirproduce to his bureau at a discountof 6o per cent, nd out of this rawopium his bureau makes pills for distribution.n Shansi itself,wherelittle pium is being produced, he land tax has also gone up rapidly. ofar,no systematic nvestigation as been carriedout to ascertain the

general ncreaseof land tax in the entireprovince, ut it is said that nthedistrict f T'unliu alone, land tax has beenincreasedby 5 per centbetween 932 and I934. This increaserefers nlyto the main tax,nottaking nto ccount he miscellaneous urtaxeswhich n totaloften oubleoreventreble hemaintax. t ishardly o be doubted hat he andownersin Shansi are shoulderingn increasingax burden.

Of late theharvestsnthe outhern artof theprovincehavebeenpoor.The fertile egionknownhistoricallys Hotung, wateredby the bend

oftheYellowRivernthesouthwesternorner fShansi,hasbeenfamousfor its grain export. Hotung means "east of the river,"and it wasproverbiallyaid that "a full harvestn Hotung is enoughto satisfyheworld."Since 93i, however, rainand cotton xports rom hansihavebeenconsiderably educed. nsteadtherehas been an increasing mportof grain,which has brought bout a drasticdrop in grain prices andindeedthepricesofall agricultural roductsn Shansi. In somedistricts

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theprices fkaoliang,maize,beans,millet nd wheatfromHotung,priced t $I2.00 perpiculof 33 pounds n I930, fellto $4.00 in I933.

Thoughrents n Shansiarepredominantlyaid inkind,cashrents avealsoobviously eflectedhe suddendropofgrainprices.Take thestatisticalreport rom nedistrict,or nstance:

TABLE 4

CashRent ermu nShihhsien, est fT'aiyzan

Year Irrigated and Non-irrigatedand HillyLandI932 .............. $8.oo $4.00 $I. 00I933................-5.00-.00 0.70

I934 ................ .o_00 o.8o 0.30According o thegovernmentfficials hocompiled hereport,hecaseofShihhsienmaybe takenas representativen all placeswherecash rent scollected.

While grainpricesand thescale of cash renthave been going down,landownershave had to bear an increasing axation.No wonder,then,that and prices n Shansi are fallingrapidly.Take thewell-known gri-culturaldistrict f Hsinchou, immediately orthof T'aiyfian.One mu

of land thereused to be valued at $I50 to $200 silver,but last yearthepricedroppedto only $30 to $40. It has been generally stimated hatsince I930 land prices n Shansi have fallento a thirdor a fourth ftheoriginalmarketvalue. In his new agrarianpolicyYen Hsi-shanevi-dentlywishes ohelp the andowners oget ridof their and.

E EN before arryingut thisso-calledreform rogram n land,how-ever,General

Yenhad

alreadybegun to practice a monopolyofagriculturalmarketing.He taxestheopiumfieldsheavily nd maintainsan opium monopolyby selling"anti-opium"pills. In like mannerhetaxesthe grainfieldsheavily and wantsto establish grainmonopoly.Four provincial anks in T'aiyiian,underhis control, ave organized ajointconcern o collectand buy all themarketable rain.This is beingdone in cooperationwith the provincialBureau of AgriculturalReliefand thegovernment gencyforSellingAgricultural roduce.The new

concern s manufacturinglour or ale, and is issuing a specialformofcertificateorfacilitatinghe graincollection. hould time and circum-stances llow, thismodifiedpapermoneywill reachan enormous umand will inevitably epeat the sad story f the ManchurianFengp'iaounderChangTso-lin.

Over a periodofmanyyears, he lateMarshalChang Tso-linfloodedthe threeManchurianprovinceswith a sevenbillionsilverdollar issue

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of unsecuredapernotes rom is Mukdengovernmentank.Bythissimplemethodecompelledhepeasantso delivero his collectorshe

produce f heir aily oil.Bythe amemethod emanagedo financeisarmy f 00,000.Byhook, rook,nd close ttentiono all businessrans-actions, e and his favorites,ntimatesnd assistantsinally ecureddeadly rip neverythinghatyielded profit.f course hansi s notso rich s Mukden: hansi's roops aveonly ncreased rom o,ooo nI923 to 00,000 atthe resentime. evertheless,eneral en ssteadilyfollowingnthe ootstepsfwhatmay e calledMukden inance. lreadyYenHsi-shansthe rch-merchantndbanker f Shansi, peculatingn

securitiesnd manipulatingnd corneringtwill thewheat nd cottonmarkets. owheis also encouragingotton roductionnhis province,whereome 2 per ent fthe otton rop s soldon themarket,ndonlyabout38 percentkeptby the peasants or heir wnhandicrafts,ndthepolicyf ncreasingheproductionnd commercializationf cottonis urgednby heJapanesegentsn T'aiyfian.

The forces f taxationnd tradecapitalhave broughtboutsomechangesven n thetenancyystem.n thesoutheastnd southwestfShansi hemajorityfresidentandlordsndrichpeasants sedto hireagriculturalaborers.nly smallminorityfthem, efore93i, rentedtheirands or fixed ent nkind, he verage ate eing 0 percent fthe otal arvest.uring he astfewyears, owever,hosewho usedtofarm or hemselvesavebegun otry o rent uttheir ands, nd thosewhoused o take fixed ent ow want o changet to a share ent. nthemiddle art fthe province, here enancys mostprevalent,he

change rom ixed ent oshare ent ince 93i hasbeenmost oticeable.The landlords etmore ncome rom share ystemhanfrom fixedrent. y sharingheproducehey ow get6o or70 percent, hough hemost ommon ractice f sharing, oth n themiddle nd the south fShansi, equireshe andlordso provide alfof the seeds, ll thefer-tilizers,nd all the mplements.n northernhansi,where he land-lords et share f65ormore ften f 75 percent f thetotalharvest,they rovidell seeds, ertilizers,nimalpower,nd a part f the agri-

culturalmplements.ince 93I this hare-croppingystemn northernShansihas spread venmorewidely hanbefore.n I933, whentaxeshad become o high nd grainprices o low, therewere till ompara-tively ew Shansi andlordswho relied n collecting cashrent; hemajorityeasedouttheirands on a sharebasis, nd provided artofthemeansofagriculturalroduction. ow,wishing o avoid furtherrisks fdeclining rices,heShansi andlords ouldrather ithdrawll

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theirnvestmentsnfarming;nd fnecessaryheyrewillingogiveuptheirand holdingsnexchangeormoney ossessions.

Yen Hsi-shanalled i magistratesrom hewesternistrictsfShansi,borderingn the province f Shensi, o an anti-Red onferencenT'aiyiiant the ndofAugust,935. On that ccasion e firstroclaimedhis new agrarian rogram. he followingrethemost alient oints fthis eformistolicy. heprogramoesnotreferoanyphase fnationalproblems,uchas tariffutonomynd the modesof agriculturalndindustrial roduction. ll lands cultivatedre to go to the "publicownershipfthevillage,"nd bondswillbe issuedwithoutny nterest

payment,olely or hepurpose fpurchasingandsfrom hepresentowners. ll peasantsre topay io percent ncome ax for edeemingthese onds,n additionothetaxes s assessedt present.he presentvillage dministrations to be responsibleor ssuing he bonds, rans-ferringhe and property,nd finally edeeminghe bonds.That thisprograms to nail down the peasantswithmore axation,nd in themeantimes tolet the andownersetawaywith n assuredmount ftheirandprice, equires racticallyo furtherxplanation.hisis espe-

cially learwhenwe understand hat heShansivillage dministrationreallys.General enwas onceknown s themodel overnorfa modelprovincefChina, ecause uringhe eriod rom9I4 to 920 he builtup a widespreadystemfmotor oads, networkfmilitaryelephonesamong ll thedistricts,ndparticularlyvillage dministrationfficientincollectingand taxes ndmilitaryequisitions.

Inmore ecent earshe tringencynfinance as caused he dminis-

trationo beevenmore rogressive.ince932,

all landtaxeshavebeenpayable o thevillage eads, ndcanno longer e deliveredirectly,sbefore,o the districtmagistrate'sffice.ertainly his s not for theconvenienceftaxpayers,utrather opromotehe ssessmentnd col-lectionf taxes.nstead f dealingwithnumerousaxpayers,hemagis-trate'sfficenlyneeds o holdall thevillageheadsresponsible,nd toseethat achmonth,n a fixed ay, hey ay ll the axes nd fixedeviesfor heir espectiveillages. he villageheads re often orced o take

loans, ithert the magistrate'sfficer elsewhere,n order o pay thetaxes; uch oans recontractedt a monthlynterestf5 per ent. hus,onlybig andlordsndrichpeople ancommandredit nough o holdadministrativeositionsn thevillages,ndno othersan meet hetaxpayments.owit s preciselyuch village dministrationhat s to fixtheprices f ands, oarrangeor hebond ssuing,ndto effecthe andtransfer.t is notunreasonable,n the ight fthepresentenancyitua-

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tion, oexpecthat he andlordsndrichpeasantsmay venforce ponthe enantsnd aborershepurchasef agriculturalmplements.

Afterllit s

economicallympossibleor he enantsndagricultural

laborersopayfor he and a pricewhich s at least75 percent fthetotal ost f griculturalnterprise.he crop-sharingenantsnnorthernShansi ave ocultivateome50to6omu norder o maintain familyof three ersons,nd only strong outhan do such task.The crop-pershaveno cashwageto speakof, heirmeagerhare fthe harvestdoesnothelp hemoaspire o any and possession.

In middle hansi,where heagriculturalaborersre comparatively

highly aid, hewagesof from woto fouryears re equal only othepriceof one mu. The highestnnualwage fora hiredagriculturallaborern thevillages ear T'aiyfianwas in I930 somethingike$70to $8osilver. ut n that ameyear icefieldshere ost bout I50 to$170 per mu.Whileonemu of rrigatedand n GeneralYen's homevillagend other earbyillagesostnolessthan 300, the nnual gri-cultural agewas only 6o. n some ther istrictsf Shansi, hewagesof fromwo totwelvemonthsmay qual the ocalprice fone mu of

land.How lowsuch wagescale s may asily e understoody com-parisonwithndia and thePhilippines here hewagesoftwomonthsat mostreequaltotheprice fonemuof and. n America nd Canadaonemonth's ages s often nough o buytheequivalentf one mu.This s ofcourse merelyheoreticalomparison;racticallyo singlefamilyanpossiblyxist n the ncome fa patch f andequaltoonlyabout nesixthfan acre.

YenHsi-shanndhis ssociatesre till esitatingocarryut mmedi-ately newprogram hichsentirelyndeven bviouslynthe nterestsofthe andowners.videntlyhey ntertain fear hat t may ncitepeasant iots hroughoutheprovince. eneralYen has said thathewould ryoput hisnew grarian rogramn trialn the even illagesnearhishome.Butwhathas been said recentlyy Hsi! Yiin-ch'ang,chairmanf theShansiprovincialovernmentndYen'schief gentntheprovince,s interestings well as instructive.si! told the corre-

spondentf heTaKungPao,as reportednthe ssue fthat aily aperfor ebruary7th,936, that equisitionsn Shansivillages,aseduponlandownership,ave beengreatlyncreased ecause fthe newly r-ganized nti-Redorps.As totheprogramfpublic wnershipf andbythevillage, e continued:

We havealready ixed scheme. t presenthepeople reafraid fcarryingtout, nd the ommunistsay t smerelymeasure or eceiv-

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ingpeople.We thinkhat he ommunistsreadvocatingxtremes,ndthat nly yadoptingur schemeanbloodshed e avoided. venthensomedisturbancesay tillbe expected.ndeed, hetimehasnotcome

to carryutthenewpolicy; utwe shall xecutetat theverymomentnecessaryoavoidbloodshed.

HshYiin-ch'angdded little llegoryfhisown:

Our newagrarian rograms just ikea damaged rain,which hepeople arenot ake, etwhich heReds laim o beimmobile.am surethat f we move t all,we willmove his rain irst. obile rnot,weshallknowtonly y hat ime.Anyway, e arereadynd prepared.

Prepared,nother ords,oturn eformnto eaction.

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1936 the good earth of china's model province

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