Chapter 3 Mr. Cai Shaoqing and the Study of the Bandit Problem
In 1988, I was accepted as a graduate student by Mr. Cai Shaoqing from a waiter position in a restaurant in Suzhou. In 1999, after I obtained a doctorate from the Institute of Qing History, Renmin University of China, I went to do postdoctoral research under Mr. Zhang’s teaching until 2002. Most of the time was spent in Nanjing, taught by Mr. Qin Mu for 14 years.Over the years, if I have made some achievements in the field of Chinese secret social history and Chinese social history research from a layman in historical research to a rough understanding of historical research, then it is inseparable from my husband who led me in and gave me advice from time to time. It's open.
In the 1980s, Chinese society was full of vitality.In the field of historiography, the study of cultural history and social history has sprung up, and the study of Chinese secret society history has also become an eye-catching center in China.His research on the origin of the Tiandihui in his early years and a number of pioneering researches at that time have aroused widespread response in the academic circles at home and abroad.It was in such an atmosphere that under the guidance of my husband, I began to study major social phenomena such as secret societies, secret religions, social rebellion, banditry, weapon fighting, and Jianghu issues.
Today, Mr. Fu is blessed with a long life, and his academic life is everlasting. As a disciple, he looks back on the past and lays out one or two things.Among the many research fields you have covered, the issue of bandits cannot be ignored; among your many outstanding research achievements, the book "Bandits in the Republic of China" published by Renmin University of China Press in 1993 cannot fail to elaborate.
Here are three questions: 1. The approach to the problem; 2. Achievements; 3. A few comments.
1. Cutting into the problem The problem of bandits is an unavoidable fact in modern China, and its influence spread from the countryside to the cities, and from the lower classes to the upper classes.Banditry is not only a focus of social conflicts, but banditry has become the object of competition among various political forces. Reactionary forces have used them, and progressive forces have also won over them.For such an important social issue, people used to focus on it and discuss it, and few people could understand it thoroughly and explain it scientifically.So some basic questions about banditry, like how exactly do you define a bandit?Who acts as a bandit?What is the inside story of the bandit organization?What is the reason for the rampant banditry?What are the laws, characteristics and outcomes of banditry activities?What are the cultural connotations of bandits?What is the relationship between bandits and the democratic revolution?etc.Aiming at such a complicated and confusing historical problem, in the mid-1980s, when the study of the party came to an end, Mr. decided to conduct research on bandits in the Republic of China period.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Wang published a long paper titled "Summary of Congregational Party Issues in the New Democratic Revolution", which was later included in his representative work "Research on Congregational Party History in Modern China" (Zhonghua Book Company, 1987 edition).Although this article takes the party association as the research object, it has already mentioned the banditry issue in many ways. From 1985 to 1986, Mr. took advantage of his visits to Europe and the United States to systematically read newspaper materials such as "Times", "Suncheon Times" and "North China Herald", which were not easily available in China at that time, and Extensive excerpts and photocopying were done. When I was admitted as a graduate student in 1988, my husband was conducting systematic research on bandits in the Republic of China period.At that time, I personally participated in a few things. One was to collect and sort out foreign academic works on banditry to understand academic trends and viewpoints (there were almost no domestic studies at that time); the other was to focus on the Second Historical Archives of China, Collect relevant information in an all-round way; the third is to conduct research on bandits in related areas.Here we focus on the first point.
The first professional elective course that Mr. taught us was "Selected Readings of Foreign Academic Classics". At that time, Mr. selected four books, namely Eric Hobsbawm's "Bandits", Beth Fei (Phil Billingsley) "Bandits in the Republic of China", "South China Pirates, 1790-1810" by Dian H. Murray, and "Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845-1945" by Elizabeth J. Perry. Huo's "Bandits" is the focus.
In 1969, the British historian and agrarianist Eric Hobsbawm published a monograph entitled "Bandits," after his earlier book "The Primitive Rebels" (published 1959). Expanded on the theme of the first chapter.Although the book is not large in length, its pioneering research established the angle, method, scope and system of banditry research, and became a guide for scholars who later studied banditry.
I still clearly remember the reading scene at that time—every week, I translated a chapter of Huo’s "Bandits", introduced it roughly in class, and other students discussed it, and finally my husband made comments.The warm and harmonious atmosphere in the classroom is still like yesterday in retrospect.
Huo's "Bandits" is the most meaningful is to put forward the concept of "social bandits" (social banditsor social banditry).The connotation and extension of this concept are very rich. For example, we often think that revolutionaries use bandits because they have a strong revolutionary color, but Huo Shi believes that the inherent limitations of social banditry activities make it very revolutionary. Small: "As individuals, they are not political or social rebels, let alone revolutionaries; as peasants they refuse to obey... Generally speaking, they are nothing more than crises and contradictions in the society in which they live ... Therefore, banditry itself is not a process of improving peasant society, but a form of self-rescue to escape from society under special circumstances." Regarding this view, the students argued with each other, and the husband combined the bourgeois revolutionary party , the Communist Party, the relationship between the party and the bandits, and gave a vivid explanation.
In 1987 and 1988, European and American academic circles published two excellent works on banditry, one was "South China Pirates, 1790-1810" by American Mu Dian, and the other was "Bandits in the Republic of China" by British Bethfield. ", the pioneering value of these two works goes without saying, even the research angle, research method, and evaluation of the research object are worthy of people's attention.At that time, my husband asked me to organize my classmates to translate Pei's works chapter by chapter and discuss them in class, while I independently translated Mu's works.
The book "Bandits in the Republic of China" published by British scholar Beth Fei in 1988 was recommended by Western scholars as "the first comprehensive monograph on banditry activities in the Republic of China." Professor Lloyd Eastman, a famous expert on the history of the Republic of China, commented: "The The most exciting part of the book is in the part describing the daily life of the bandits: the organizational structure of the bandits, various adventure activities, and distinctive slang words... Bethfield seems to have ushered us into the bandits' camp, so that we not only see the bandits as a whole. A social phenomenon, and saw the bandits themselves.” In the late 1960s, a new attitude towards history emerged in Western countries, and many young scholars began to oppose the traditional historian’s practice of only paying attention to big figures, and they proposed that historical The main concern of the state should be ordinary people, because it is they who make up the vast majority of the population.At that time, there was another movement surging, that is, the Vietnamese people's war against the United States and the Patriotic War.
Inspired by the actions of the Vietnamese people, young people questioned the status quo and began to seek new ways of seeing the world.Subsequently, a new atmosphere appeared in Western academic circles. They no longer only cared about the winners in historical competition with "masculine prejudice", but also began to pay equal attention to the losers and those who did not adapt to the "orthodox" society. people.They not only pay attention to the study of sports, but also pay attention to individuals; they study both the winners and the losers.Because of this, Bayesian believes that although bandits are often regarded as "bad elements" in Chinese history, banditry activities are often a reasonable response to their dangerous environment, and it is precisely those "respectable people" who force these "Bad elements" are bandits.It is in this sense that he put bandits into the long river of history for investigation, and believed that bandits had a long tradition of resisting dictatorship, and bandits not only created heroic deeds, but also did ugly deeds.This kind of objective understanding is precisely a kind of historical materialism.
In the 1980s, China began to bring order out of chaos. In the field of historians, the study of social history flourished, and people began to pay attention to the neglected problem of bandits.Bei Sifei's works take the bandits of the Republic of China as the object, which undoubtedly gives us a more intuitive reference.
In the process of understanding the dynamics of Western academics, it is worth mentioning that Mr. Perry recommended the book "Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845-1945" by Professor Perry Perry of the United States.Pei Yili once visited Nanjing University and has a teacher-student relationship with her husband. She has just resigned from the post of director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies at Harvard University. The book "Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845-1945" is her famous work , has great influence in foreign academic circles.Pei's discussion of the three major issues of the Nian Party, the Red Gun Society, and the peasant revolution led by the Communist Party from the perspectives and methods of geography, demography, and anthropology gives people a refreshing feeling.In fact, Bei Sifei and Cai Shaoqing later cited Pei Yili's three basic types of bandit groups in their books "Bandits in the Republic of China": Temporary bandits (also known as "simple bandits" often Seasonal and small-scale activities; semi-permanent bandits (also known as "complex bandits") have a large number of people, last for a long time, and have a large range of activities; bandit armies, with tens of thousands of people, often control A fairly large area may lead to a large-scale rebellion under certain conditions.
The above-mentioned academic works and related papers have played a great role in broadening our horizons and drawing lessons from foreign historical research methods.The academic research of his life is based on a solid theoretical foundation and rich literature, fully understands and absorbs academic information at home and abroad, and uses rigorous logical arguments to carry out, so his achievements often have international significance——2001 In August 2008, Mr. was awarded the prestigious "Frederick Milton Tresh Award for Advanced Research".
2. Achievements "Bandits in the Republic of China" edited by Mr. Cai Shaoqing was published by Renmin University of China Press in 1993. So far, Cai's "Bandits" by Eris Hobsbawm, Beth Fei (Phil Billingsley) "Bandits in the Republic of China" is a tripartite confrontation, forming a unique academic landscape.
In order to understand the context of these three books, which are continuous and innovative, the table of contents of the three books is listed below.
Huo Zhu: 1. What is a social bandit? 2. Who will be a bandit? 3. Grand robber; 4. Avenger; 9. The bandit as a symbol; Appendix, woman and bandit.
Bei wrote: 1. Introduction; 2. Overview of banditry activities during the Republic of China; 3. Case studies of bandits in Henan; 4. Who would be a bandit?5. The formation of bandits; 6. The life and expectations of bandits; 7. Bandits, regime and common people; 8. China becoming a world of bandits; 9. Bandits and revolution; 10. Conclusion.
Cai wrote: 1. What is a bandit; 2. Who acts as a bandit; 3. The inside story of the bandit organization; 4. Horse bandits in the Northeast; 8. Bandits and pirates in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi; 9. Bandits and salt lords in the Taihu Canal area; 10. Bandits in the Northwest Frontier; 11. Bandits and revolution.
It can be seen from the catalog that these three books are constantly innovating in terms of perspectives, theories, and methods.Since Cai's and Bei's works have the same title and object, here we focus on the similarities and differences between the two.
As we all know, bandits are not a unique social phenomenon in China, they exist in almost all countries in the world.In China before the founding of New China, it was not during the Republic of China that there were bandits, but they existed in ancient times.However, the bandits in the period of the Republic of China were unprecedented in other eras due to their large number, wide influence, widespread distribution, high level of organization and armed level, and their existence and development were consistent with the period of the Republic of China.All this has become a rather special social phenomenon.This has been a very serious social problem since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, reflecting the seriousness of the social crisis in semi-colonial and semi-feudal China from one aspect.In the past, for more than half a century, our country had many records of the history of bandits in the Republic of my country, but the historians did not do in-depth research on this, and wrote a relatively systematic and complete monograph.
After 1949, the Chinese historians took two attitudes when studying the issue of peasant resistance. One was to ignore or deliberately avoid it, and the other was, as American scholar Dian H. , Chinese scholars have always held a rigid view of almost all civil disturbances as 'just peasant uprisings' and the true dynamics of the original revolutionary tradition that led to the victory of communism in 1949. This habit led to A tendency to dramatize the political nature of disturbances of all kinds, viewing even the most primitive forms of disturbance as the harbinger of varying degrees of self-conscious rebellion against the Qing state".
Both Bei Zhu and Cai Zhu took the bandits in the Republic of China as their research objects.The characteristic of Bei's book is that he inherited Huo's viewpoint and method, and made a groundbreaking research on bandits in the Republic of China. His achievements have been pointed out by many book reviews.Whether the latecomers will inherit the whole or find their own way is obviously a question that has to be considered.In his opinion, Huo and Bei’s works should be critically inherited in terms of viewpoints, methods, and theories, and innovations must be made in terms of system, structure, and content. The characteristics of the banditry activities are summarized in a relatively complete manner.In fact, it can also be seen from the published works of Cai that the representative bandit activities in various regions during the Republic of China have been basically outlined.Not only that, but in the first few chapters written by himself, Mr. Wang put forward his unique views on the basic connotation and extension of the bandits in the Republic of China.
Take the definition of "bandit" here as an example.
"Bandit" is a very general term, and the connotations of bandits referred to in different eras or different classes and classes in the same era are not the same.However, in the minds of ordinary people, "bandits" and "thieves" are always compared. Anyone who forcibly robs or steals other people's property, or commits crimes, is called a bandit or a thief according to the severity of the circumstances. .Bandits are not human beings. They are called bandits with the word "earth" before the word bandit, which means local bandits, or bandits operating in the local area.In fact, bandits are not limited to local people, and their activities are often not limited to the native land.
What exactly is a bandit?Hobsbawm wrote clearly in "Bandits": "From a legal point of view, any group of people who engage in violent looting and raids is a bandit. From those who rob money at the corners of urban streets to organized , insurgents and guerrillas who have not yet been officially recognized belong to this category.”
This is a relatively broad definition, and Huo Shi believes that historians and sociologists cannot use such a rough definition when conducting specific research on bandits.Therefore, in the book "Bandits", he made a specific investigation and generalization of various bandits such as social bandits, Robin Hood-like thieves, primitive rebels, and terrifying avengers.After Huo Shi, Anton Blok, Antonio Silvino, and Phil Billingsley also published their works and expressed their opinions.Among them, Bei Sifei's point of view is roughly the same as Huo's.In his view, a real bandit is someone who "beyond the scope of the law without opposing the system".
Referring to the theories of various schools above, and combining the actual situation of bandit activities in China, Mr. believes that bandits are such a group of people:
(1) They come from agricultural society and are the direct product of periodic famines, severe natural disasters, wars, etc. in rural society. In order not to starve to death, they gang up and arm themselves and do whatever they want;
(2) Their existence and activities are not permitted by the laws of the country;
(3) Although their behavior is a protest against reality and is objectively anti-social, they lack a clear political purpose;
(4) They are separated from production, and violent robbery and ransom are the main source of their livelihood.
To sum up, a bandit is a person who conducts activities beyond the scope of the law without a clear political purpose, and lives by robbery and ransom.
This summary can be described as concise.
After the publication of Cai's work, it has been widely praised in the historian circle.Although some similar works were published in China later, and some of them were of certain value, Cai's work, like Bei's, is self-evident in its groundbreaking value and academic significance.
Three, a few comments that bandits were a serious social problem during the Republic of China.It not only has a large number of people and a wide distribution, but also has its own armed forces and base areas; in many places, it also controls the local political, economic and social life, forming a pattern of "divided rule between officials and gangsters".Although there are many bandits who rob the rich, help the poor, and uphold justice, most of the gangs are lax in discipline, looting everywhere they go, and bringing endless disasters to the people.
The main goal of studying bandits in the period of the Republic of China is to reveal the existence, development and evolution of bandits as a social group in the history of the Republic of China and its role in the historical process, to explore the internal and external causes and internal laws of this social phenomenon, and to make people scientifically It is the correct direction to fully understand this social sickness and social malpractice and eliminate this phenomenon.
As one of the main writers who participated in Cai’s works, after more than ten years, when I review the research of that year, I feel that it is necessary to summarize the positive and negative experiences. For a book, the author can't help being complacent, and others can't do without compliments.Mr. has always been rigorous and realistic in academic research, even in the research on the origin of Tiandihui, he has never complacent.After the publication of the book "Bandits in the Republic of China", Mr. Wang talked with me many times about the necessity and feasibility of studying this topic and the shortcomings of the book.It is not presumptuous here, but a little description is given, and I think that later researchers can learn from it.
1.The necessity of studying bandits in the Republic of China.Social history is a process of overall development, and the development and changes of history are caused by various forces.The upper class and the lower class, the ruler and the ruled, the just behavior and the unjust behavior, the progressive factors and the backward factors all play their respective roles in the process of social development. The progress, regression and stagnation of history had a direct impact.Mr. Wang believes that starting the research on bandits in the Republic of China is an important topic in the study of the history and social history of the Republic of China. It is of great significance for expanding the field of historical research, revealing the original appearance of the society of the Republic of China from many aspects, and more comprehensively explaining the historical process and development laws of the Republic of China. positive effect.Western historians only paid attention to the study of political history, military history, and leaders in the early days. After the French Annals School emerged in the 1920s, they began to pay attention to the study of economic history and cultural history. The focus shifted to the common people, the lower classes and social movements, and gradually penetrated into all levels of society.
As far as the bandits of the Republic of China are concerned, their connotations are colorful and grotesque, and they are actually a microcosm of the society of the Republic of China; their extension has many tentacles, and they are closely related to the politics, economy, military, and society of the Republic of China.For example, the relationship between bandits and various political and military forces influenced the course of the history of the Republic of China to a considerable extent.Among the armies of various natures at that time, a considerable number of generals started from bandit leaders (such as Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zongchang, Lu Rongting, Liu Zhenhua, Sun Dianying, Wang Tianzong, etc.), and many of them came from bandit stocks.Depending on the time and place, the army and the bandits are twin brothers. Many people sometimes become soldiers and sometimes become bandits.Bandit stocks are ready-made armed carriers, and various political forces are using bandit arms by all means.This is an important feature of the Republic of China military.Therefore, the study of bandits in the Republic of China is helpful for a deeper and comprehensive understanding of the military history of the Republic of China.
Similarly, the study of the Beiyang warlords, the Southwest warlords, and the new Kuomintang warlords, and the history of the puppet Manchukuo regime, the puppet Mongolian regime, and the Wang puppet regime are also inseparable from the study of bandits.Needless to say, the study of the social phenomenon of bandits is more useful for examining the internal contradictions of semi-colonial and semi-feudal Chinese society, analyzing its deep-seated social, economic and political crises, and revealing the inevitable collapse of imperialist and feudal rule. profound meaning.
The problem of bandits in the period of the Republic of China was also a practical problem and a policy problem faced by the New Democratic Revolution.In order to unite all the forces that can be united, isolate and divide the enemy to the maximum extent, and win the victory of the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution, the Communist Party of China and the people's army under its leadership have conducted systematic research on the issue of bandits and gangs, and have worked hard to deal with them correctly. Such problems have been relentlessly worked on.The study of bandits in the period of the Republic of China will also help people to study the history of China's new democratic revolution more comprehensively and deeply, and explore and summarize the experience and lessons of the revolutionary movement in understanding and dealing with bandits and other vagrants.
Encouraged by Mr.'s understanding, I later conducted multi-faceted research on banditry from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.
2.Feasibility of in-depth study.The published treatises on the bandits of the Republic of China over the years can be described as very few, and what is dissatisfying is that in the past ten years, some booksellers have cobbled together small books on bandits, prostitutes, underworld, etc. for profit, seriously interfering with academic research ——Some books on banditry are even directly copied from Cai's.Of course, this situation needs to be changed.It is not limited to the policy and mechanism level, scholars should also make their own efforts.
In 2000, in an article I co-authored with my husband on the relationship between the Chinese labor movement and gang associations, I proposed the feasibility of the relevant research: (1) Documents were continuously collected and published, and the research strength gradually matured; (2) Foreign research provides us with reference; (3) The research results of gang history can be introduced into the study of labor movement history; (4) We already have a large environment for academic research.These points of view can also be a reference to promote the study of bandits in the Republic of China.Of course, some basic work, such as the collation of data, still needs to invest considerable manpower and material resources to do it.
3.The shortcomings of "Bandits in the Republic of China" written by Cai.Needless to say, the pioneering significance and achievements of Cai’s works, due to subjective and objective reasons, there are still some shortcomings in it.
When he presided over the research, Mr. was getting older, and although he had to do everything by himself, he couldn’t cover everything. Therefore, the book was completed through division of labor and cooperation, and the bandits in some areas failed to take care of it; some topics were not covered; some academic achievements (such as Taiwan) failed to absorb it; due to the limitation of objective conditions, there is still a lack of data collection; lack of manpower caused delays in publication.Especially the first few factors, when the book has a chance to be republished in the future, it is very necessary to correct it.Pointing out these is also a reference for others to study in depth.
In short, Mr. Cai Shaoqing's research on banditry plays an important role in the study of contemporary Chinese historiography.
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