Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.7, 2018

 

Villages and Peasants in the Nationalists Period (1927-1937): From the Viewpoint of Taxes and Natural Disasters

(Abstract)

 

Weng Youwei

 

During the ten years from the establishment of the Nationalist government in Nanjing to total resistance against Japanese aggression by the whole nation, serious problems emerged in rural governance. These were chiefly evident in the exploitation of the countryside through frequent and harsh taxes; neglect of infrastructure projects which would have avoided natural disasters and a feeble response to those disasters; a sharp fall in the peasants’ ability to cope with natural disaster; and a series of large-scale famines. The double blows of man-made and natural disasters led to economic depression in rural areas year after year. The mass of the poor gave up hope and waited for death, thus providing fertile soil for mass rebellion and revolution. Given the above historical realities, the so-called “golden decade” of the Nationalist government in Nanjing was non-existent in the rural economy.