Chapter 17 Chapter Four From Liberty to Democracy

In China in recent years, "should farmers own land" has been a hot topic of social discussion.However, considering that the division of urban and rural areas for more than 50 years has restricted the freedom of movement of Chinese farmers, and traces back to the emperor's control over refugees for thousands of years, keeping them firmly tied to their homeland, the author of this book prefers to believe that China needs first What is solved is the question of "should the land be owned by farmers". In 1954, China promulgated its first constitution, which stipulated that citizens have "freedom of movement and residence".However, in less than two years between 1956 and 1957, the state issued four consecutive documents restricting and controlling the blind flow of peasants into cities. In January 1958, marked by the "Regulations on Household Registration of the People's Republic of China", the Chinese government began to impose strict restrictions and government controls on the free movement of the population.For the first time, urban and rural residents are clearly divided into two different types of household registration: "agricultural household registration" and "non-agricultural household registration".The 1954 constitutional provisions on freedom of movement are de facto repealed.Its purpose is nothing more than to develop the economy, stabilize the nascent republic regime, and realize the utopian dream of "running into communism" organized by Mao Zedong, etc.By 1975, the constitutional provision on freedom of movement was officially removed, and it has not been restored since.

Under the strict management of the household registration system, the city and the countryside and between cities are in a state of "segregation".If a child born in the countryside wants to enter the city, there are only a few very limited ways, such as taking an exam, joining the army (promotion), recruiting a job (or replacing his parents who work in the city), and the transfer of household registration between cities is also very difficult. Especially the relocation from small towns to large and medium-sized cities.Although China's household registration system has been gradually loosened after 1978, in recent years, a considerable number of provinces and cities have begun to explore the reform of the household registration system.However, major cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai still implement strict household registration controls.

Regarding China's urban-rural segregation, Mr. Qin Hui wrote an article "South Africa, China's Lessons Learned", making a brief comparison of the temporary residence permits in China and South Africa in history: "China's market competitiveness comes from China's low freedom, low Welfare and low human rights. If China does not engage in globalization, it will be equivalent to North Korea, and there will be no miracles; if it is not low human rights, it will be equivalent to the current Eastern European countries, and there will be no great miracles—globalization and The combination of these two low human rights creates a miracle. The ultimate factor of China’s economic miracle is two: the enclosure movement and migrant workers—without these two, it is impossible to imagine explosive urbanization and the status of the world’s factory "In comparison, South African blacks work in cities, and black families are housed in segregated slums outside the city; China is similar, allowing farmers to work in cities, but farmers cannot settle down in cities. It is to place them in single dormitories.This kind of initiative has produced a kind of identity card system - South Africa is called a pass, and China is called a temporary residence permit.The two countries have a common sight, that is, a large number of urban management patrols the streets and can arrest people without temporary residence permits.In South Africa in 1984, 160,000 blacks were arrested because they did not have a permit; the population of Guangdong was twice that of South Africa, but in 2000, the number of migrant farmers who were arrested because they could not produce a temporary residence permit was 3.5 times that of South Africa.This is also the background of the era when Sun Zhigang died unexpectedly.

Snow once lamented that the Great Wall put the Chinese people in a "state of martial law" spiritually. In fact, the same is true of China's household registration system.If farmers are fixed on the land and cannot move freely, they can only be planted on the land like "empire scarecrows", at the mercy of powerful people, or even hollowed out like "Stockholm Syndrome". Soul, silently singing "I am your scarecrow, I don't have my own soul, I can only listen to your mercy, I feel happy" (song "Scarecrow"). The author once wrote an article pointing out that China is moving from closedness to openness. The most urgent thing is to need "Mr. Kong" to re-develop the society and expand connections. The meaning of "Mr. Kong" is to make society more free and open.A good society should seek equality in freedom and openness, not in restraint and slavery.

An open society is a porous society where people and things can flow freely.On the contrary, a closed society should "govern the world with one hole".Regarding this point, as early as more than two thousand years ago, Guan Zhong once advised the king he served in this way: "The one who has achieved one hole will be invincible in the country; Soldiers; those who go out of the four holes, their country will perish. The previous kings knew it, so the envy of the people (extra money) was blocked (restricted) their profit, so it was given to the king, and it was up to the king to take it away. The king, the wealth is in the king. Therefore, the people wear it like the sun and the moon, and kiss the king like their parents." ("Guanzi·Guozhu") Simply put: if a country wants to be invincible in the world, it must establish a set of "profits out of one The "hole" system leaves ordinary people with only one channel to make a profit.In this way, the common people can only rely on the king's government and rely on the king's nose in everything, while the king can effectively control the civil forces and actively regulate the disordered state of the free market-in Guan Zhong's words, it is "the people's rulers rely on their Food, keep it for use, if there is a surplus but not enough control, so the people are all tired of the top."Since entering this "One Confucianism", the subjects can only eat the king's "monarch's salary", go to the imperial chariot, and serve the empire, "I will never have this life".The emperor's so-called "taking the world as his own responsibility" is nothing more than "taking the world as his own use".

The pinnacle of benefiting from one hole is "one doctrine, one political party, and one leader" in the period of political omnipotence.Hayek once quoted Trotsky in his book "The Road to Serfdom" as saying: "In a country where the government is the only employer, resistance is tantamount to slowly starving to death." The old principle of "eating" has been replaced by the new principle of "whoever disobeys shall not eat." Apparently, the opening of a hole is "the hole leading to slavery". Without economic freedom, there can be no political freedom. Democracy in the West undoubtedly originated from commercial civilization.Because people are animals that can exchange, business allows people to live in groups, self-organize, and can constantly "choose with the relief of choice".The reason why the market economy makes society move towards self-government and goodness is because commodities must be a kind of good, and far-sighted producers see their own future in the "marketing of goodness".At the same time, the horizontal web formed by exchange challenges the vertical web of power.It is not difficult to understand why Chinese despotism has not only adopted a strict household registration system and the Shiwu Baojia Liansi system since ancient times, but also adopted a policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business", turning farmers into "imperial scarecrows". Standing guard in the fields and exile.

Since China's transformation, the elections that took place at the beginning of the last century are now more like a bleak gesture of history.However, in human history, the bargaining chip of "voting with feet" before obtaining the right to "vote with hands" also contributed a lot.Looking back on the growth of Chinese society in the past three decades, the most pleasing progress is the formation of an open society and the increase in opportunities to vote with your feet. When the "China-Africa Forum Beijing Summit" was held in 2006, taxi drivers in Beijing joked that "people from their hometown have come."Obviously this is not just a joke, but has a scientific basis.Anthropologists and historians have long demonstrated that humans originated on the African continent.As for the reasons, they are also colorful. In addition to the skull fossils buried in ancient times, some people even found Chinese idioms to support them.In my impression, a French anthropologist got inspiration from the Chinese phrase "trees fall and hozens scatter", and firmly believed that human beings first originated near the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The seeds of civilization fell to the ground one after another, and they walked out of Africa, planted the seeds of civilization all over the world, and began to enjoy the first night of human civilization.Until one day it takes root and sprouts, and flowers bloom everywhere.According to this theory, it is not difficult to deduce that if there were no "Leaving the Treetops" of "Hozen Heroes" back then, there would definitely be no later Athens, Rome, Paris, London, Beijing, New York, and my "China in a Village" The village where fate is recorded.

Simply put, human civilization first came out of free walking.Of course, this includes not only stepping out of geography, but also stepping out of taboos, suffering and injustice.I have mentioned many times that the ancient Roman era was the most beautiful era in human history, and it was also the cradle and sketch of modern civilization.For example, the republic is to the separation of powers, Cincinnati is to Washington, Commodus is to totalitarian rule, the arena is to mass media, the senate is to parliament, etc. Whether it is system, law, or sports, culture, it seems It's not hard to find references there.Usually, people trace the source of Gandhi's "non-violent non-cooperation" thought to Henry Thoreau on the shore of Walden Pond. In fact, Thoreau's thought and actions of "civil disobedience" have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as early as the ancient Roman era. And it has always been a sharp weapon for the common people to play against the nobles.

In 510 BC, although Rome had closed the door to the monarchy at this time and entered the republic era, but because it was a republic of nobles at that time, the Senate composed of nobles controlled everything, and some civilians became slaves because of debts, so The contradiction is very sharp.The final result was that in order to get rid of the control of the nobles, many civilians left the city of Rome with weapons and production tools.In 494 BC, a large group of civilians withdrew from the city of Rome to the holy mountain in the eastern suburbs, expressing their intention to establish their own city. "Farewell, Rome!" Due to the mass exodus of civilians, production was bound to stop and soldiers were scarce. The nobles panicked for a while, so they sent representatives to the Holy Mountain to negotiate with the civilians, and finally negotiated the tribune system.It should be said that this is the most flamboyant and most rewarding voting with feet in the history of the world - because after that, as long as the tribunes say "veto" (Latin: I forbid) the government's decree can be overruled and resolutions of the Senate.The "Law of the Twelve Tables", which is the source of Roman law, is also the product of the game between the common people and the nobles.The possibility of voting with their feet not only makes ordinary people straighten their backs, but also a silent declaration of their self-worth and their right to choose a better life.In the face of this "ancient Roman-style strike" -- to be precise, "state strike", you will know that the old era had the freedom of the old era, and the magnificence and achievements at that time were far behind the "Xiamen PX" incident. on the "Chinese-style walk".

There are at least two conditions for Roman civilians to win.One is that they can leave the city of Rome freely; the other is that there is a piece of land outside Rome that can belong to them.The former guaranteed the Roman commoners the right to vote with their feet, while the latter prevented them from having nowhere to go when they voted with their feet, falling into the dilemma of "Hobson's choice" or "all the world, is it the king's land"? choose.In the special period when the country annexes society, there is doctrine but no society, and free walking is prohibited, voting with feet is mostly empty talk.

In fact, it was precisely because the ancestors of ancient Rome had the right to "vote with their feet" that I was lucky to walk into a town called San Marino inadvertently when I was traveling in Italy in the autumn after 2000 AD. country, and in the arms of the mountains, I listened to the "president" (co-consul) of San Marino who met me unexpectedly tell the long-standing legend of voting with the feet of this country. Back in China, it was not until the 1980s that the society was gradually liberated from the state system under the pull of economic system reform and opening up, which is what I call "social liberation".It is undeniable that the achievements made in the past 30 years lie in the gradual breaking of the original unit system, enabling citizens to move freely between different units and different regions.From a unit person to a social person, from a political person to a natural person with flesh and blood, emotions and desires. In an open country, however, there is competition among different states.As Friedman said, "If I don't like what the state I live in is doing, I can move to another state." In other words, there should not only be a market economy, but also "market politics" .Behind the free choice is a set of "market politics" rules.Active competition in the political market is not only reflected in immigration between different countries, but also in the fact that citizens of a country can move freely according to their own wishes.Since there are no taboos about household registration and units, residents in the open era can objectively plunge local governments into competitions related to governance capabilities through free choice of residence.It's like the civilians left the city of Rome and used their right to vote with their feet to fully compete with the rulers. If one admits that a good society is the fruit of continuous voting with feet, it is not difficult to find that an open society and subsequent voting with feet actually imply a kind of democratic connotation.Even the United States, as small as San Marino, is not a country that "votes with its feet".Under the strict property rights system, if the land is privately owned, everyone can complete a certain sense of "foundation".Perhaps we can say that every piece of land is a country in the motherly eyes of land rights.You plant a tree, and if the land is yours, it can grow freely here for tens of thousands of years. However, in an era when the state overwhelms society and natural resources actually belong to the "power ownership system", people have to face the dilemma of "no place to be ashamed" and "nowhere to turn (vote with your feet)".A real "country" should have a "country" and a "family" with a clear distinction between public and private.The state should at least guarantee the right of its citizens to vote with their feet and return to their huts or ashrams for self-government when they are not interested in state affairs. In the "Village Chronicle" that I serialized in "Southern Metropolis Daily", there is a section "Leaving the Village".As we all know, "Exodus" tells the story of the ancient Hebrews leaving Egypt and returning to the land of freedom under the leadership of the prophet Moses.And what I talked about in "Leaving the Countryside" is to outline several generations of Chinese farmers who have faded out of the countryside.The same thing is that both describe a group of people who have to leave one place for another because of their livelihood or simply longing for another life.Differently, "Exodus" tells the story of a group of people following the prophet from a foreign land to their hometown, and he first saved them; while "Exodus" tells about a group of people leaving their hometown almost spontaneously in stages and groups, and they want to treat their hometown as their own. Homeland (the so-called "integration"), where there is no prophet, everyone can only save themselves.As Ibsen said, "The whole world is like a sinking ship at sea, and the most important thing is to save yourself." Happiness comes first from being able to choose.As Russell said, "It must be known that unevenness is the origin of happiness."Only when everyone is free to make choices can human life and interests be optimal as a whole.Whether it is the "Exodus" of the Hebrews mentioned above, the "Exodus of Rome" of the San Marinos, or the "Exodus of the Countryside" of the Chinese villagers, the logic behind it is that everyone should have whatever they want. , the right to freedom of movement. Today's Chinese see China's hope from the wave of migrant workers that began to emerge in the 1980s.In fact, as early as the Republic of China period, Chinese intellectuals had already begun to pay attention to the "migrant labor wave" at that time.On this point, I read a lot of useful information in "A Survey of the Social History of Modern Chinese Peasants Entering the Cities".According to the sample survey from 1923 to 1925, the average number of rural population leaving the village was 4.61%. In the 1930s, the rate of farmers leaving the village increased significantly.According to the survey of peasant households in 22 provinces conducted by the National Government’s Central Agricultural Laboratory in 1933, it was found that there were 1,920,746 “farmhouses whose whole family left the village”, accounting for 4.8% of the total peasant households in the counties reported; a total of 3,525,349 “farmhouses with young men and women leaving the village” households, accounting for 8.9 percent of the total farm households in the reporting counties.By 1935, the proportions of households in 22 provinces across the country who had moved to cities to escape disaster, work, earn a living, and live in their homes were 14.2%, 21.3%, 15.4%, and 8.2%, respectively, and the total of the four items reached 59.1%. Reclaiming wasteland, farming, and refugees accounted for 36.9%.The survey on where young men and women left their villages during the same period showed that 64.9% of them left their villages and went to cities for various purposes, while 28.5% went to other villages to work in agriculture or open up wasteland. As it is now, in the gender and age structure of modern urban population in China, the people who migrated from rural areas to cities are mainly male young and middle-aged people. According to the survey of "Independent Review" Li Jinghan, among the 1,338 respondents, those aged 20 to 49 "divorced Village" farmers accounted for 71.28%.According to a survey by Chen Hansheng and others, men accounted for more than 85% of the population in Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hebei provinces, and those aged between 20 and 40 accounted for more than three-quarters.Accompanied by this, it is natural that a large number of farmlands are abandoned. In 1932, the "Agricultural Weekly" published an article stating: "Most able-bodied people fled to the cities to find another way of life; while those who remained in the countryside were mostly old, weak, poor and sick. Peasants flocked to cities, which were definitely overpopulated; If there is a township, the foundation of the countryside will be shaken at all, and the rural economy will only be destroyed day by day.” Turning back time, we can see such a scene, and the two contrast each other, how is it different from today’s China? When it comes to why farmers moved to cities, there are naturally many reasons.For example, natural disasters and man-made disasters.Natural disasters have existed since ancient times. As for man-made disasters, they mainly refer to disturbances caused by one of Hu Shi's so-called "five beetles".According to statistics, in just three years from the summer of 1927 to the summer of 1930, more than 100,000 people were mobilized for civil wars as many as nearly 30 times.Due to the long-term war, a large number of stragglers turned into bandits, and some refugees who had no means of livelihood also joined the bandits. Therefore, many places have become the world of bandits.It is said that in Nanyang, Henan and other places, some farmers went out to plow the fields, and even carried guns on their backs to prevent bandits from robbing them!Due to the rampant bandits, some farmers had to survive in relatively stable cities. In addition, there are China's urbanization and market economy development.In the 1930s, Fei Xiaotong mentioned in his book "Jiangcun Economy" that in the previous 10 to 20 years, the silk reeling industry in cities near Shanghai developed extremely fast, and urban industries attracted a large number of rural population.The silk factories around Jiangcun are also blooming everywhere, and many young women are absorbed into the factories to work. There are 106 young women aged 16 to 25 in Jiangcun. “More than 80% of them are now working in factories outside the village or in cooperative factories. They are new earners. salary man". Re-reading these passages inevitably reminds me of the countless men and women who have been working hard for decades, because the basic state policy of dividing urban and rural areas in China has not allowed them to move out or work for decades, and they are all "scarecrows of the empire".Beginning in the 1990s, the wave of migrant workers has come back across China as it did at the beginning of the last century.This kind of scene of "starting from the beginning now" gives people a kind of historical tragedy that time is wasted and what is the eve.In fact, for more than a century, and can be traced back to more distant times, no matter why farmers left the countryside, there may be only one real reason, that is, everyone has the motivation and right to avoid disasters and pursue a better life. Time flies, but fortunately, in the past twenty or thirty years, China has begun to repent and rehabilitate, and finally continued the free tradition of the ancestors of the apes of mankind "coming out of the treetops and walking around the world", so that Chinese villagers can live in happiness. Survive in adversity under the call of Yang Wanli, and feel the taboo and liberation in Yang Wanli's "Guiyuanpu" poem: "Wanshan is not allowed to run a stream, so that the sound of the stream is noisy day and night. When you reach the foot of the front mountain, the majestic stream flows out of the village."