(c) Land on river banks, sand land, and land for public cemeteries should be dealt with by the peasant assembly (or its committee) of the county or ch’u (sub-county).
9. Supplement to Section B of Article 10:
Any unemployed worker whose home is in the countryside but who finds no means to make a living may go back to his native place to divide land with proofs given by the government of locality where he now lives
10. “The People’s Liberation Army” as mentioned in Section C of Article 10 includes liberated soldiers (defectors from Chiang’s forces).
11. Supplements to Section C of Article 10:
(a) All martyrs who gave their lives on the battlefront since the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War (including soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army, militiamen, civilian cadres, and other personnel) should get a share of land and property equal to that of a peasant for themselves.
(b) Land for placement of honorable soldiers and veterans should be preserved by the Director’s Administrative Bureau on a unified plan, and should not be distributed; but the amount of such land should not surpass one thousandth of the total quantity of land in the Director’s Administrative Bureau area. Such reserved land should for the time being be handed over to the poor and bitter peasants and other poor people to cultivate through the county peasant assemblies (or their committees) in the counties under the administration of the Director’s Bureau. No rent should be paid but only the burden to the government.
12. Supplement to Article 11:
The form of title deeds (literally land ownership certificates) should be designed by the Hopei-Honan-Shansi-Shantung Border Region Government in a unified way, should be printed by the Director’s Administrative Bureau according to the form, then given to the respective county governments which should be held responsible for the filling out and issuance of the title deeds.
13. Supplement to Article 13:
Regulations for the Organization of the People’s Court on different levels should be made by the people’s assembly of Hopei-Honan-Shansi-Shantung Border Region.
14. Supplements to Article 16:
(a) “Areas where land has already been evenly distributed” as mentioned in this article denotes areas where the land distribution has been done in accord with the principle and spirit of the Basic Program on Chinese Agrarian Law. If illegal holding of extra portions or inequality in fertileness and infertileness still exists, so that the poor peasants have not enough means to make a living, redistribution according to petitions of adjustment should be made.
(b) If, in areas where land has already been evenly distributed before the promulgation of the Basic Program on the Chinese Agrarian Law, the landlords and rich farmers cannot make a living though they have labor power, land may be given to them, in the way of making up, according to law.
15. These measures may be revised at any time when necessary.
16. These measures begin to take effect on the date when they are promulgated.
Appendix C
How to Analyze Class Status in the Countryside From: The Agrarian Reform Law of the People’s Republic of China
1. Landlord
A person shall be classified as a landlord who owns land, but does not engage in labor or only engages in supplementary labor, and who depends on exploitation for his means of livelihood. Exploitation by the landlords is chiefly in the form of land rent, plus money-lending, hiring of labor, or the simultaneous carrying on of industrial or commercial enterprises. But the major form of exploitation of the peasants by the landlords is the exacting of land rent from the peasants. The management of landholdings owned by public bodies and the collection of rent from school land also belong to the category of exploitation in the form of land rent.
Some bankrupt landlords who, despite their bankruptcy and their ability to work, do not engage in labor, and whose living conditions are better than those of an ordinary middle peasant, shall continue to be classified as landlords.
Warlords, bureaucrats, local despots and villainous gentry are the political representatives of the landlord class, and are exceptionally cruel and wicked elements among the landlords. (Among the rich peasants there are also small local despots and villainous gentry.)
Any person, who collects rent and manages the landed property for landlords and depends on the exploitation of peasants by the landlords as his main means of livelihood, and whose living conditions are better than those of an ordinary middle peasant, shall be treated in the same manner as a landlord.
Supplementary Decisions Adopted by the Government Administration Council
(A) Any person who rents large areas of land from landlords, who does not himself engage in labor, but sub-lets the land to others for rent, and whose living conditions are better than those of an ordinary middle peasant, shall be classified as a sub-landlord. Sub-landlords shall be treated in the same manner as landlords. A sub-landlord who cultivates part of his land should be treated in the same manner as a rich peasant.
(B) Revolutionary army men, dependents of martyrs, workers, staff members, professional workers, peddlers and others who rent out small portions of land because they are engaged in other occupations or because they are unable to work, shall not be classified as landlords. Their class status shall be determined according to their occupations or they shall be referred to as small land lessors, whose landholdings shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 5 of the Agrarian Reform Law.
(C) The class status of any person who receives income from some other occupation and who at the same time owns and rents out a large area of agricultural land the size of which exceeds the average landholdings of each landlord family in the locality, shall be determined according to the major source of his income. He may be referred to either as a person of other class status and concurrently as a landlord, or as a landlord having other class status. The land and property used directly for his other occupations shall not be confiscated.
(D) The average landholding of a landlord family in the various localities shall be computed by taking one or several counties as a unit, and shall be determined only after the people’s government of a special administrative district* or of a county has submitted it to a provincial people’s government and obtained the latter’s approval.
2. Rich Peasant
A rich peasant generally owns land. But there are also rich peasants who own only part of the land they cultivate and rent the rest from others. There are others who own no land but rent all their land from others. Generally speaking, they own better means of production and some floating capital and take part in labor themselves, but are as a rule dependent on exploitation for a part or the major part of their means of livelihood. Exploitation by rich peasants is chiefly in the form of exploiting the wage labor (hiring long-term laborers). In addition, they may also let out part of their land for rent, or lend out money, or carry on industrial or commercial enterprises. Most of the rich peasants also manage the landholdings owned by public bodies. Some own a considerable amount of fertile land, engage in labor themselves and do not hire any laborers. But they exploit the peasants in the form of land rent and loan interest. In such cases, they should be treated in the same manner as rich peasants. Exploitation by the rich peasants is of a constant character, and in many cases the income from such exploitation constitutes their main means of livelihood.
Supplementary Decisions Adopted by the Government Administration Council
(A) If the area of land rented out by a rich peasant exceeds in size the land cultivated jointly by himself and by hired laborers, he shall be referred to as a rich peasant of a semi-landlord type. The land and other properties of rich peasants, or of rich peasants of a semi-landlord type shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 6 of the Agrarian Reform Law.
(B) Where a landlord family has some members who are engaged in major agricultural labor all the year round, or at the same time hires laborers to cultivate part of its land, the said family shall be classified as a land
lord family and not as a rich peasant family if the major part of its land is rented out and the rented-out land is three times or more the size of the land cultivated jointly by the family and by hired laborers (for instance, 150 mou of land rented out and less than 50 mou cultivated by the family and by hired laborers); or in a case where the family possesses large iandholdings and the rented-out land is twice or more the size of the land cultivated jointly by the family and hired laborers. (For instance, 200 mou rented out and less than 100 mou cultivated by the family or hired laborers.)
The land and other properties of such a family shall be dealt with in accordance with Article 2 of the Agrarian Reform Law. However, the part of the land cultivated by the family’s own labor shall, after appropriate readjustment, be mainly retained by the family. The status of those members who take part in labor, if their position in the family is not a dominant, but a subordinate one, should be appropriately determined as laboring people in order to distinguish them in status from other family members who do not participate in labor.
3. Middle Peasant
Many middle peasants own land. Some possess only a portion of the land which they cultivate while the remainder is rented. Some of them are landless, and rent all their land from others. The middle peasants own a certain number of farm implements. The middle peasants depend wholly or mainly upon their own labor for their living. In general they do not exploit others. Many of them are themselves exploited on a small scale by others in the form of land rent and loan interest. But generally they do not sell their labor power. Some of the middle peasants (the well-to-do middle peasants) practice a small degree of exploitation, but such exploitation is not of a constant character and the main income therefrom does not constitute their main means of livelihood. These people shall be classified as middle peasants.
4. Poor Peasant
Some poor peasants own inadequate farm implements and a part of the land they cultivate. Some have no land at all and own only some inadequate farm implements. In general they have to rent land for cultivation, and are exploited by others in the form of land rent, loan interest, or hired labor in a limited degree. These people shall be classified as poor peasants.
In general, the middle peasants need not sell their labor power, but the poor peasants have to sell their labor power for limited periods. This is the basic criterion for differentiating middle peasants from poor peasants.
5. Worker
Workers (including farm laborers) generally have neither land nor farm implements. Some of them have a very small amount of land and very few implements. They depend wholly or mainly upon the sale of their labor power for their living. These people shall be classified as workers.
Index
A major function of this index is to help the reader keep track of the multitude of names mentioned in this book. However, no attempt has been made to index the names of all the Long Bow villagers or other local personnel mentioned only incidentally. Also, no attempt has been made to make an exhaustive index of all those names which do appear. The page listings for villagers, work team members, local officials, etc., refer only to certain events or discussions in which they played an outstanding role or which are of particular human interest.
agrarian reform. See Draft Agrarian Law, land reform
Ai-lien. See Ch’eng Ai-lien
“air-raid shelters,” 162, 188
American Magazine (Michael Lindsay), 86n
Anti-Japanese Military and Political Training School. See Resistance University
anti-Japanese struggle. See Japan “Anti-Traitor Movement,” 107 ff
excesses of, 125–126, 196, 345
victims repayed, 582–585
Aptheker, Herbert, quoted, 118
bank credit, 218–219
Barr, General David, 483
base period, in class analysis, 286–287
modification of, 408
“basic villages,” 12, 250, 489, 508
Beauvoir, Simone de (The Long March), 60n
Belden, Jack, quoted, 396
“black lands,” 34
Border Region, defined, 5n
Border Region currency, equivalent in U.S. dollars, 143
Border Region Press, 323
Boxer Rebellion, 60
Buck, J. Loessing (Chinese Farm Economy), 35n
Buddhism. See North Temple Society
cadre, defined, 12n. See Communist Party, work team
capital, formation, difficulty of before Revolution, 35–36
in peasant production, 407
capitalists, policy toward, 404, 537n
Carry-On Society, 62–66, 121 ff. See also Catholic Church
cart, of Wang Lai-hsun, bought by Chang-hsun, 124
purchase of, examined by village, 571–577
Catholic Church, strength of, in China, xxii
history of, in Long Bow, 58–68
as collaborator with Japanese, 80–81
expropriation of, in Long Bow, 143–146
split between members of, and rest of community, 67, 126, 194–196
catty, defined, 30n
Chang Chiang-tzu (founder of Long Bow militia), 111, 127, 229
Chang Chih-i (Earthbound China), 31n
Chang (Little) Ch’uer (work team member), assaulted, 256
domestic problems of, 386
Chang Ch’un-hsi, seduced by landlord’s daughter-in-law, 163
joins Communist Party, 188–189
becomes acting village head, 235
before gate, 332 ff
victimized by “extreme democracy,” 520
elected village head, 545
attacked by dissident peasant, 579
Chang Hsin-fa, joins Communist Party, 172–174
courts Pu-ch’ao, 189
becomes secretary of Party branch, 235
speaks to delegates at gate, 322 ff
passes gate, 355
elected to People’s Congress, 544
leads investigation of Yu Pu-ho, 553 ff
Chang-hsun, buys cart of Wang Lai-hsun, 124
purchase of cart examined by village, 571–577
Chang Huan-ch’ao, and carpentry cooperative, 214–215
class analysis of, 281–282, 439–440, 475
Chang K’uan-hsin, before first gate, 359
before second gate, 452
Chang Kuei-ts’ai, becomes acting vice-chairman of village, 110–111
as target of Kuomintang agents, 126
rejected as soldier, 127
life story of, 132
joins Communist Party, 168–170
becomes district cadre, 235
quits as cadre, 518–519
Chang Lao-pao (Old Pao), life story of, 293–296
accepted into Poor Peasants’ League, 311
elected as delegate to gate, 330–331
Chang San-ch’ing, becomes village secretary, 110–111
reports on cadres’ meeting in Li Village Gulch, 131
Chang, Secretary (assistant to head of Lucheng County Communist Party), 383, 497
Chang Tien-ming, joins resistance against Japanese, 89–90
arrested by Japanese, 94
role in surrender of Japanese, 99
role in trial of Kuo Te-yu, 110 ff
joins Communist Party, 171–172
becomes district cadre, 235
Changchih, New Year celebration in (1948), 10 ff
Changchuang, ixn, 21
Changchun, 482, 611
Chao Ch’uan-e, motives for joining Communist Party, 181
before first gate, 358
class status of, 439
before second gate, 451
Ch’en Secretary (head of Lucheng County Communist Party), 372
and first County Conference, 376–377, 400–402, 411–414
and second County Conference, 489–494, 504–505
Ch’en Keng (Liberation Army general), 7
Ch’en Yi (Liberation Army general), 6, 7, 482
Ch’e
ng Ai-lien, husband of, beaten by women, 158
joins Communist Party, 177–178
terms of remarriage, 178
loses land rights, 588–589
Cheng-k’uan. See Kuo Cheng-k’uan
Ch’eng-yu. See Wang Ch’eng-yu
Chengting, 426
Chi-mei. See Shen Chi-mei
Ch’i Yun, assigned to work team as interpreter, 14
sets off for Long Bow, 251
life story of, 265–266
effectiveness as cadre, 291, 465, 522–523
leaves Long Bow, 601
Chia Village, 380
Chiang Kai-shek, orders diversion of Yellow River, 6
and China’s Destiny, 54
and traitorous generals, 70n
“Trojan horse” strategy of, after Japanese surrender, 79, 96 ff, 104
military losses of (1946-1948), 481–482
disintegration of political control of, 484–485
final military rout of, 611–613
clique of (with Kung, Soong, and Ch’en), 11, 537. See also Civil War, Kuomintang
Ch’ien Lung, Emperor, quoted, 58
Chin-chu, tortures Ch’ung-lai’s wife, 141
marital problems of, 228
coerced into army, 237
attitude of villagers toward, 307
Chin-ming. See Han Chin-ming and Hou Chin-ming
China Democratic National Construction Association, 484
China’s Destiny (Chiang Kai-shek), 54
“China’s Sorrow,” 4
Chinese Farm Economy (J. Loessing Buck), 35n
Ching-ho. See Sheng Ching-ho
Ch’ing T’ien-hsing, as puppet officer under Japanese, 77
execution of, 117
“chive-cutting thought,” 197, 221
chop, described, 447n
Ch’ou-har. See Kuo Ch’ou-har
Chou Mei-sheng, appointed chief of staff under Japanese, 74
on trial before village, 119–120
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