Table of Content

20 March 2023, Volume 43 Issue 2

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Shanlin and Society

QU Jingdong

2023, 43(2):  1-17. 

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Society exists both in the human world and outside the human world. The existence of a civilization cannot be limited to the maintenance and development of realistic social elements but must have a transcendental spiritual world， which can be cultivated into concrete history and people, and constructed into a continuing life. Chinese civilization has always developed with the dual system of Zhengtong （official orthodoxy） and Daotong （Confucian orthodoxy）， and the shanlin （maintains and forests） culture system is the ontological structure bearing the Daotong. Compared with the normal society of cities and towns, shanlin and jianghu （rivers and lakes） constitute an abnormal ideal world. This world, which seems to have nothing to do with everyday society， infuses a kind of eternal spirit and holiness into the human mind and becomes a place where Daotong depends. Examining the evolution of Chinese civilization, it can be found that the shanlin culture system was formed in the Wei， Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties. Buddhism and Taoism had cultivated the inner spirit of Confucian scholar-officials and had creatively combined the view of seclusion in Confucianism with the view of nature in Laozi and Zhuangzi’s philosophy. Chinese civilization had thus entered a stage where poetry， calligraphy and painting were used as the carrier to inherit, preserve and cultivate. The literati transformed the principles of Daotong into concrete self-cultivation， into a fully presented worldview and cosmology， and applied them to all aspects of society. As another world center, shanlin did not exist in isolation from the society， but instead it always maintained multiple and multi-form interactions with the human world, the dynastic politics and the landscape. The discussion on shanlin and society is intended to reflect on the cosmology between people and their surroundings in modern society， showing another possible direction in the sense of our civilization.

Self-Cultivation，Sanctification and Revolution：Understanding the Radicalization of May 4th Moralist

CHEN Yannan

2023, 43(2):  18-53. 

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The interweaving and competition between “national salvation” and “enlightenment”，“politics” and “culture” after the May Fourth Movement are an important clue for us to understand modern Chinese history. The student societies established by Chinese modern intellectuals during the May 4th Movement provided both the communication mechanism for the spread of the New Culture Movement，and the organizational foundation for the Chinese Communist party，which helped Communism take root in China. The “Liqun（benefiting the society）Bookstore”，initiated by Yun Daiying，was such an organization that played “the linkage”between local society and modern cultural and political ideas. Understanding the organizational principles，structures，ethics，and identities and beliefs of its key members is of great significance to our understanding of the localization of social changes. Existing studies mostly present Yun Daiying as a moralist intellectual influenced by Confucian ethics. However，following this line of thought，it is difficult for us to understand why Yun Daiying turned from a moderate moralist activist into a radical revolutionary. This paper argues that Yun Daiying’s radicalization comes from the combined effect of both Wang Yang-min’s philosophy and Christian socialism，which enables him to develop a moral cognition common with communists，and an inherent affinity with Bolshevism. The dilemma of his moral commitment impels him to go for mass political activities to implement his unfinished moral ideals in a new way. Yun Daiying’s early experience shows us the moral confusion faced by intellectuals with Confucian background when facing the modern political order in the transitional era and their expectations to bridge the tension between “morality” and “politics”. This helps us to understand the moral preferences of the Chinese communist revolution，and the modern transformation of Confucian China.

The “Takeover” of Northeast China in the Industrial Heritage and Geopolitics （1945-1948）： A Comparative Analysis of the Organizational Systems of the KMT and the CPC

XIE Hongyu

2023, 43(2):  54-95. 

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The post-war takeover of colonies is a contemporary issue of new nation building brought about by the two world wars in the 20th century. After the Japanese occupation, Northeast China became the focus of competition between the KMT and the CPC because of its industrial importance. This article provides a comparative study of these two parties’s takeover plans for the post-war Northeast China. By examining the specific strategies and processes of the two parties’ responses to the regional industrial heritage， it reveals different organizational difficulties and their respective strategies to overcome them. The study finds that the KMT and the CPC were unable to implement their takeover plans at the beginning. The involvement of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Northeast China affairs， as well as the urban-rural structural divide dictated by the railway network left by the Japanese occupation， interfered with as well as restricted the action of the KMT and the CPC. Specifically， at the time mobilization was the basic organizational logics of the CPC while in contrast demobilization was the basic organizational logics of the KMT. The conflict between tiao and kuai and the tension between “unification” and “division” were the structural difficulties the two parties were facing respectively. Under the geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union， the KMT was confined to metropolis and railway lines and the technocrats responsible for takeover had very limited room for action. What’s more， the competition between military operations and resumption of work and production caused the self-destruction of KMT’s takeover. However， although the CPC was forced to retreat to the countryside， it was able to carry on its experience in the Soviet bases and promote the organizational innovation of military， political and economic cadres in the process of unifying finance and returning to the cities， resulting in its organizational self-strengthening. This article points out that the difference in the takeover plans of the Northeast China reflects the differences in the overall strategies of the two parties， as well as the two parties’ respective use of organizational principles in dealing with geopolitics and the regional legacy. The takeover of the Northeast China， in terms of organizational regime， was precisely the turning point of China’s national construction in the middle of the 20th century， and the organizational creation inspired by it provided the CPC with an organizational transformation mechanism from wartime to normalization. Therefore， the CPC was able to smoothly transit to the construction of the Northeast region immediately after its military victory.

The Transformation of Management System and Property Rights of County-level Public Assets（Gongchan） During the Republic of China

CHEN Yueyuan, LONG Denggao

2023, 43(2):  96-122. 

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The transformation of public assets（Gongchan） in modern China was closely related to the evolution of local public utilities and national governance mechanism, and bears the historical changes of the concept of “public” （Gong）. From the perspective of property rights, this paper examines the historical change of Gongchan management system at the county-level of Zhejiang Province during the Republic of China. Gongchan in Ming and Qing Dynasty was the property owned by grassroots level non-governmental organizations that took care much of the needed public services. After the founding of the Republic of China, the county-level Gongchan was brought under the unified management of local self-government, and its property rights， different from government or private property， were confirmed and regulated by national laws. However， its implementation was affected by the changes in national politics and personal disputes. There was also a conflict between the traditional way of Gongchan operation and management and the new mission of promoting modern public services. The above-mentioned factors caused many problems in the management of Gongchan by local self-government organizations， resulting in deepening the conflicts between local self-government organizations and the government and the people. The Nanjing National Government allowed local self-government organizations continue the management of Gongchan， and related problems were further magnified. Under the wartime pressure in the mid-1930s， the Nanjing government implemented certain administrative system reform at the county-level in order to extract more revenue， and gradually incorporated Gongchan into government management. In the process， the meaning of Gongchan expanded to include both government property and traditional Gongchan. The concept of “public”， once embedded in the traditional public property system and representing the common interests of specific groups， was eventually replaced by the meaning of referring to the state， the imperial court， and society as a whole.

Symbiosis and Cosmopolitanism：American Society from the Perspective of Park’s Human Ecology

SUN Chang

2023, 43(2):  123-149. 

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The United States is a multi-ethnic immigrant country， and the study of ethnic relations is the subject of Park’s “Human Ecology”. According to his sequence of “race relations cycle”， Park sees that the Old World is stagnant in the “preliminary stage” of competition and conflict， and thus pins his hope on the “climax stage” of accommodation and assimilation in American society. The transformation of these two stages is accompanied by the natural process of “succession” of social forms. However， the ultimate ideal of assimilation is always out of reach， and the hybrid state of symbiosis is an established social fact. The paradox is that Park does not find this unbearable. Because of his unique background， Park sympathies with minorities and that leads to a “cosmopolitan” sociological imagination. Regrettably， the ecological order， organized solely around the economy of nature， lacks the familiar ground that can make social life tolerable for immigrants. Immigrants， who come to the New World from all corners of the world to seek their destiny， are from different ethnic origins and bear different cultural imprints. Even if they find a place in urban life， they can hardly feel at home. Immigrants have long left behind a traditional family-centered and outward-expanding order in an effort to adapt to a symbiotic world of economic interdependence and emotional isolation. If the migrants in Chinese cities do not become “strangers” suffering from “wanderlust”，it may be because they still have a “home” in their hearts. Because they always have such a concern deep in their hearts it allows them to be moving around in strange places without wandering. This is completely different from the cosmopolitan American society.

From Subjects to Burghers：The Research on Max Weber’s Typology of City，the Dynamic Revolution of City and Non-Legitimate Domination

PAN Ziyang

2023, 43(2):  150-183. 

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Weber’s concept of “legitimate domination” can be divided into two elements： “authoritarian power of command” and “belief in legitimacy”. From the perspective of modern political order, the modern state with bureaucracy at its core places too much emphasis on top-down hierarchical and coercive order （“authoritarian power of command”）， but has no bottom-up conceptional recognition （“belief in legitimacy”）. This further threatens the stability of political order and leads to a “crisis of legitimacy”. The solution lies on how to reintegrate “belief in legitimacy”， however， at the same time， it needs to be based on real political considerations to avoid the destruction of “everyday routine needs” caused by excessive integration. The “charismatic dominance” favored by Weber and its two evolution methods have different levels of limitations in solving the above-mentioned “crisis of legitimacy”. This article examines Weber’s “non-legitimate domination” through a typological comparison of the “uniqueness” of medieval western cities as well as an analysis of burghers’ identity characteristics， life-work styles， political demands， and participation in the legal process. It is found that “non-legitimate domination” provides a bottom-up path unique to the Western civilization that preserves “everyday routine needs”， and ultimately “through legal means of safeguarding economic rights and interests， it applies the selective neglect of ‘authority’ to achieve the stability of the order”. This provides a new possibility for the integration of “belief in legitimacy” and the solution of “crisis of legitimacy”. In addition， this paper provides a tentative interpretation of the concept of “non-legitimate domination” through a review of Weber’s study of the “city”： the expression of a “non-domination” of order within an order that has a tendency to dominate.

Educational Knowledge and the Distinction Between the Sacred and the Profane: From Durkheim to Bernstein

HU Xuelong

2023, 43(2):  184-209. 

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The proposition of “knowledge is a product of social construction” is the foothold of Durkheim’s understanding of human knowledge on the whole， and it is also the standpoint from which Bernstein conceives knowledge relations within education fields. This paper attempts to re-examine this important but yet constantly misunderstood proposition offered by Durkheim. It starts from the point of Durkheim’s “sacred and profane” dichotomy， then delves into the problematics behind his sociology of knowledge， and finally examines the way in which Bernstein’s sociology of educational knowledge goes beyond “sacred and the profane” dichotomy. The paper points out that Durkheim’s creative connection of knowledge and society is based on the recognition of the duality between individual and collective experiences. Its significance lies in the fact that Durkheim’s socio-historical interpretation of knowledge does not undermine knowledge itself. Bernstein’s insights of the relationships between school and everyday knowledge should be seen as a faithful continuity to Durkheim’s sociology of knowledge. On the one hand, Bernstein expands Durkheim’s division of knowledge between “scientific classifications” and “technical classifications”. He argues that the everyday-knowledge-based teachings occurred in daily encounters are in sharp contrast to the school teachings based on scientific knowledge. On the other hand， Bernstein acknowledges that official pedagogy cannot ignore everyday knowledge. However， the strict boundary between school and everyday knowledge constitutes the necessary social condition for the acquisition of educational knowledge and identities. More importantly，the sacred/profane distinction is the prerequisite for educational emancipation， in that the abstract form of school knowledge enables students to go beyond the myths of everyday life， to envisage new ideas and create new orders. Considerations touched upon above the essential necessities of educational knowledge， as opposed to its realizations in contingent contexts， are central in determining the educational ideals that can offer help and guidance for desirable action.

Family Background and Education: Gender and Period Differences of Status Exchange in Marriage

WANG Jie, LI Yaojun

2023, 43(2):  210-233. 

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The research on gender and period differences in status exchange between family background and education in marriage not only reveals the changes in social and gender inequalities from the perspective of marriage matching，but also allows us to evaluate the impact of heterogeneous marriage changes on society. Existing research has neglected gender and period differences in status exchange. This paper uses the 2018 Chinese Family Panel Study and applies log-linear models to analyze the gender and period differences in marriage across social origin and education boundaries from 1978 to 2018. The results show that persons with higher education but humble family backgrounds tend to marry those with lower education but more privileged backgrounds. This supports the status exchange theory. In addition，data from 1978 to 1991 show that it was more common that women exchange their relative educational advantage for men’s relative birth advantage. In all，the exchange tendency has intensified over time，and this increase is more reflected in the exchange of men’s educational advantage for women’s class advantage. However，the intensity of women exchanging their relative educational advantages for men’s relative birth advantages shows a trend of first decreasing and then increasing. At the same time，the gender differences in the degree of status exchange faded over time. With the decrease in the number of children overall and the increase of one-child families，China’s marriage culture has gradually shifted from patrilineal marriages to “dual lineage” marriages，which may be an important reason for the gradual convergence of the influences of male and female family backgrounds in the marriage market.