116
C. MARTIN WILBUR
Much of the urgency for a thorough study of the historical form of village government rests upon the fact that in the near future changes are certain to come. In some cases the trend is already evident. This metamorphosis, which at present is only starting, the writer had planned to make the subject of a special chapter. For lack of enough reliable information, however, this plan had to be abandoned. Instead, those facts which could be ascertained have been incorporated into the body of the first four chapters and plainly indicated.
The final chapter of this essay deals, in a general way, with the historical evolution of village government in China.1 In this section the writer has merely attempted to plot the course of this social institution throughout the history of the developing race. Even this preparatory and inadequate survey of a single institution indicates how fruitful a field for research the social history of the Chinese people might be.
The appendix includes a bibliography of those Western sources which have been found useful in this study, and a bibliography of recent investigations into rural condition written in Chinese. For this latter the author is indebted to Mr. T. L. Yuan, acting director of the National Library of Peiping.
(Chapter 1) THE FAMILY
The basic nature of the traditional family system to all social and political institutions in China has often been pointed out. It should be emphasized that in this chapter only those elements of the family system which seem most to have influenced, if not indeed produced, the Chinese mode of village government will be examined. No attempt is made at a complete analysis.2 In connection with this description two important cultural phenomena will be considered, namely, mutual responsibility and the filial piety-ancestor worship pattern. These phenomena form a psychological background both for the family system and for village government, reinforcing and being reinforced by them.
1 Not printed here
* For a fairly complete, if not thoroughly critical study of the family system in China see Su, Sing Ging; The Chinese Family System, which also has a good bibliography of Chinese and Western sources. The work which was of most value for this paper is Kulp's Country Life in South China, Vol. I: Phenix Village, which is a survey of actual conditions.
116
C. MARTIN WILBUR
Much of the urgency for a thorough study of the historical form of village government rests upon the fact that in the near future changes are certain to come. In some cases the trend is already evident. This metamorphosis, which at present is only starting, the writer had planned to make the subject of a special chapter. For lack of enough reliable information, however, this plan had to be abandoned. Instead, those facts which could be ascertained have been incorporated into the body of the first four chapters and plainly indicated.
The final chapter of this essay deals, in a general way, with the historical evolution of village government in China.1 In this section the writer has merely attempted to plot the course of this social institution throughout the history of the developing race. Even this preparatory and inadequate survey of a single institution in- dicates how fruitful a field for research the social history of the Chinese people might be.
The appendix includes a bibliography of those Western sources which have been found useful in this study, and a bibliography of recent investigations into rural condition written in Chinese. For this latter the author is indebted to Mr. T. L. Yuan, acting director of the National Library of Peiping.
(Chapter 1) THE FAMILY
The basic nature of the traditional family system to all social and political institutions in China has often been pointed out. It should be emphasized that in this chapter only those elements of the family system which seem most to have influenced, if not indeed produced, the Chinese mode of village government will be examin. ed. No attempt is made at a complete analysis.2 In connection with this description two important cultural phenomena will be considered, namely, mutual responsibility and the filial piety- ancestor worship pattern. These phenomena form a psychological background both for the family system and for village government, reinforcing and being reinforced by them.
1 Not printed here
* For a fairly complete, if not thoroughly critical study of the family system in China see Su, Sing Ging; The Chinese Family System, which also has a good bibliography of Chinese and Western sources. The work which was of most value for this paper is Kulp's Country Life in South China, Vol. I: Phenix Village, which is a survey of actual conditions.
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