Peasant Life in China - A Filed Study of Country Life in the Yangtze Valley 费孝通

 

Truth will work, because truth is nothing else but man's adaptation to real fact and forces. Science becomes only prostituted when the scholar is forced to adapt his facts and his convictions to demands of a dictated doctrine.

 

Since as an anthropologist he knows how difficult a process is that of readptation; how this process must be built on the old foundations, and built slowly, gradually, and wisely, he is deeply concerned that all change should be planned, and that the planning be based on the solid foundation of fact and knowledge.

 

With the best intentions and the most desirable end clearly in view, planning must remain faulty if the initial situation of change be misconceived.

 

Even as in mechanical engineering only a fool or a madman would plan, design, and calculate without reference to scientific physics and mathematics, so also in political action, reason and experience must be given the fullest play.

 

Our modern civilization is perhaps now facing its final destruction. We are careful to use only the most qualified specialists in all mechanical engineering. Yet as regards the control of political, social, and moral forces, we are yielding more and more to madmen, fanatics, and gangsters. A tremendous arraignment of force, controlled by individuals without a sense of responsibility or any moral obligation to keep faith is accumulating on the one side of the dividing line. On the other side, where wealth, power, and effectives could still be made overwhelmingly strong, we have had during the last few years a consistent and progressive display of weakness, lack of unity, and a gradual whittling down of the sense of honour and of the sanctity of obligations undertaken.

 

History can be read back, taking the present as its living version, quite as much as it can be read forward, starting with the remains of the dimmest past and the earliest written records. The two approaches are complementary and they must be used concurrently.

 

A type of sociological work which openly criticizes the inadequacy of government action is yet carried on with the encouragement of the government speaks for itself. It proves on the one hand the integrity of the young sociologists in China and on the other the goodwill and wisdom of their official patrons.

 

In any process of change, there is an integration of his past experience, his understanding of the present situation and his expectation of the future consequences. Past experiences are not always a real picture of past events because they have been transformed through the selective process of memory. The present situation is not always accuratly comprehended because it attracts attention only in so far as interest directs. The future consequences do not always come up to expectations because they are the products of many other forces besides wishes and efforts.

 

Even when an institution has failed to meet the need of the people, there may be no substitute. The difficulty lies in the fact that since a social institution consists of human relations, it can be organized. Moreover, the social situation is usually complicated and expectation varies among the individuals involved. Therefore in the process of social change, it is always necessary in order to organize collective actions to have a more or less accepted definition of the situation and a formulated programme.

 

Such preparatory activities generally take a linguistic form. It can be seen in its simplest form in the command of a captain to his crew when directing the course of a ship. It can also be observed in the well staged debates in parliament or congress. Different definitions of the situation and varying expectations about the results form the center of the debates. Nevertheless, such preparatory activities are always present in an innovation in socially organized activities.

 

An inaccurate definition of situation, either due to deliberate aberrations or to ignorance, is dangerous for the group because it may lead to an undesired future.

 

Despite the past errors and present misfortunes, China will emerge once more a great nation, through the unswerving effort of her people. The present account is not a record of a vanished history but a prelude to a new chapter of the world history that will be written not in ink but in the blood of millions.

 

In the ceremony of menyu, literally "child-reaching-full-month", the child will be shaved and given a personal name by his maternal uncle. This is usually a name of abuse, such as dog, cat, or monk. The people believe that the lives of the children, particularly those who are specially regarded by their parents, are sought by devil spirits. A way of protecting the child is to show the spirits that there is no one interested in it; the theory is that spirits, being sadistic, will then discontinue their intervention. This is sometimes carried so far that children are nominally given for protection to somebody who is considered to have greater influence, or even to gods. The parents' outward expression of love of their children is thus carefully concealed.

 

The supernatural agents or the spirits are not conceived as absolutely omnipotent and omnipresent. They are actually invisible human beings with very similar human sentiments and desires. Since they are very human, they also commit all human weaknesses and follies. Thus, all the human methods, which can be used towards any human policeman such as cheating, lying, bribing, and even physical bullying, can also be used in dealing with the supernatural inspector.

 

The interesting fact is that there is no tendency to attribute the economic depression to the suspension of the gathering, but, on the contrary, the economic depression was regarded as the case of the suspension. This shows that the nature of the gathering was less religious or magical than recreative.

 

Culture provides means to procure materials for satisfying human needs but at the same time defines and delimits human wants. It recognizes a range of wants as proper and necessary and those lying outside the range as extravagant and luxurious. A standard is thus set up to control the amount and type of consumption. This standard is a measurement for plenty and deficiency by the people themselves. It enables saving when there is plenty, and causes dissatisfaction when there is a deficiency.

Magic exists in spite of government orders and various justifications, so long as it plays a useful part in the life of the people. It is not a thing to be prohibited by order, but to be eliminated by providing more effective human control over nature. Since complete control is inconceivable at present, it is difficult to rule out magic in human culture.

 

"Machines should be used to increase human happiness. Unfortunately, they have been used for the contrary purpose. But I still believe that it is the duty of the reformer who is trying to introduce these types of tool into China to find a way of using them properly. To me, the most important thing is that men should not be the slaves of machines. In other words, machines should be owned by those who use them as a means of productions. That is why I insist on the principle of co-operation. It would be much easier to organize the new factory on capitalistic lines, but why should I do it? Should I work for the interests of the capitalists and intensify the sufferings of the people? The profit secured from the improved technique should go to the people who share in the production .

My other conviction is that the silk industry has been, and should remain, a rural industry. My reason is that if we attract the industry away from the village, as has been done by many industrialists and is so easy to accomplish, the villagers will in fact starve. On the other hand, I know very well how the workers are living in the cities. Village girls have been attracted by the opportunity to work in the city factories for a small wage, on which they can hardly support themselves. They have left their own homes. This process has ruined both the city workers and the village families. If Chinese industry can only develop at the expense of the poor villagers, I personally think we have paid too much for it."

 

Some supposed that the mother sheep was killed in order to get the foetus, the skin of which is valuable. This idea does not accord very well with traditional ethics, although the people themselves practise infanticide.

 

If the people are not able to pay their ever-increasing interest, rent, and tax, they will be threatened by brutal treatment from the usurers, and rent and tax collectors, and by legal enforcement through imprisonment. But when hunger is stronger than the fear of being shot, peasant revolts take place. Perhaps, this is the situation that has resulted in the disturbance of the Red Spear Club in North China and the Communist movement in Central China. If the author of Red Star Over China is right, the main force that drove millions of peasants in the heroic long march was nothing but hunger and its derived hatred of landowners and tax collectors.

 

The national government with all its promises and policies on paper was not able to carry out any practical measures owing to the fact that most of the revenue was spent in its anti-communist campaign, while the real nature of the communist movement was a peasant revolt due to their dissatisfaction with the land system. Despite all kinds of justification on either side, one thing is clear: that the conditions of the peasants are getting worse and worse. So far no permanent land reform has been accomplished in any part of China since the recovery of the Red Area by the government.

 

It is true that thousands of villages have already been destoryed by the invaders, but in their ruin our internal conflicts and follies should find their last resting-place. Form the ruin, a new China will emerge. The coming generation will, I sincerely hope, credit us with facing the problems of our age in a spirit of understanding and sympathy; our sacrifices and the hardship we are undergoing shall stand vindicated only if we look forward to the future with oneness of purpose and clarity of vision.

 

在人文世界中所说的“整体”并不是数学上一个一个加起而成的“总数”。同一整体中的个体有点像从同一个模式里印刷出来的一个个糕饼，就是这个别是整体的复制品。生在社会里又在社会里生活的一个个人，他们的行为以至思想感情的方式是从先于他存在的人文世界里学习来的。学习基本上就是模仿，还加上社会力量对个人发生的规范作用，即所谓教育，社会用压力强制个人的行为和思想纳入规范中，一个社区的文化就是形成个人生活方式的模子。这个模子对于满足个人生活需要上是具有完整性的，每个人生活需要的方方面面都要能从这个人文世界里得到满足，所以人文世界不能是不完整的。

 

不能否认活生生的生活中有许多是从过去传下来的，但这些传下来的东西之所以传下来就因为它们能满足当前人们的生活需要。既然能满足当前人们的生活需要，它们也就是当前生活的一部分，它们就还是活着。这也等于说一个器物、一种行为方式之所以成为今日文化中的传统是在它还发生“功能”，即能满足当前的人们的需要。凡是昔日曾满足过昔日人们的需要的器物和行为方式，而不能满足当前人们的需要时，也就会被人们所抛弃，成为死历史了。

 

 

但不论研究了多少类型，甚至把所有多种多样的类型都研究遍了，把所有这些类型都加在一起，还不能得出全貌。唯有多层次相互联系综合起来，才可能概括地认识庞大的实体。