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Communist Interpretations of the Chinese Peasant Wars
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
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One of the most heated debates in Chinese Communist historiography concerns the evaluation of the peasant movements in Chinese history. As in many other aspects of mainland intellectual life, the issues debated in this question seem artificial. Yet even in terms of the interpretation of Chinese history new problems have been raised, if not solved. More important, in terms of contemporary intellectual history, the discussions of the Chinese peasant wars form an important part of the documentation for the most massive attempt at ideological reeducation in human history, the effort to inculcate attitudes of struggle in place of the traditional emphasis on harmony.
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References
1 Over 400 articles and several books on the subject were published between 1949 and mid-1961, not including a comparable amount of material on the nineteenth-century rebellions. Discussions of the subject have played an especially great role in the revived “hundred flowers” debates since 1958.
2 Shao-pin, Shih, “Discussion of the Peasant Revolutionary Wars in Chinese Feudal Society,” in Chung-kuo Feng-chien She-hui Nung-min Chan-cheng Wen-t'i T'ao-lun Chi (Collected Articles on the Problem of the Peasant Wars in Chinese Feudal Society), Shao-pin, Shi (ed.) [hereafter SSP] (Peking: San-lien Shu-tien, 1962), p. 499Google Scholar.
3 Wai-lu, Hou, “The Development of the Peasant Wars and their Programs and Slogans in Earlier and Later Periods of China's Feudal Society,” SSP, p. 47Google Scholar.
4 Such as the Marxist emphasis on economic considerations in place of Confucian moral determinism and the adoption of a lineal concept of historical development in place of the Confucian theory of cyclical aberrations from a permanent ideal.
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6 Notably Hou Wai-lu, Pai Shou-yi, Ch'i Hsia and Yang K'uan. However, Fan Wen-lan, Chien Po-tsan and Kuo Mo-jo have all warned against exaggerating the revolutionary nature of the peasant revolts and Wu Han has refused to even speak on the subject. See Han, Wu, “More on Meetings of Immortals,” Survey of the China Mainland Press (SCMP) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate-General), No. 2477, pP. 5–6Google Scholar, citing Kuang-ming Jih-pao (Kuang-ming Daily), March 21, 1961.
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12 The revolt of An Lu-shan, A.D. 755, is the most notable exception. According to the Communist historians this is because although An was said to have “used the class struggles of the peasants against feudal exploitation,” his movement, “judged by its status, was a civil war, whereas judged by the origin [of its leaders] it was actually a war between different races.” See Tan-ling, Wang, Chung-kuo Nung-min Ke-ming Shih Hua (Talks of the History of Chinese Peasant Revolutions) (Shanghai: Kuo-chi, Wen-hua Fu-wu She, 1953), p. 185Google Scholar, and Chih, Feng, “Tu Fu,” Chung-kuo Wenhsueh (Chinese Literature) 04 1962, p. 31Google Scholar.
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15 Chien Po-tsan mentions over a thousand peasant revolts in one article: Po-tsan, Chien, Li-shih Wen-t'i Lun-ts'ung (Collected Discussions on Historical Problems) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1962), p. 110et seq.Google Scholar.
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37 See the articles in Li Kuang-pi, ed., op. cit., and Lung-ch'ien, Li, “A Tentative Discussion of Resistance Struggles of the Ming Miner Movements,” Shih-hsueh Yueh-k'an, 03 1959, p. 34Google Scholar.
38 Liao Ning Ta-hsueh History Department, “Criticise Shang Yueh's Mistaken Views of Rural Class Relations and the Peasant Wars in the Ming and Ch'ing,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 07 21, 1960Google Scholar, and Te-shen, P'an, “On the Nature, Features and Function of the Peasant Revolts and War of the Last Stage of Chinese Feudal Society,” SSP, p. 194Google Scholar.
39 e.g., Hsing-te, Chang, “Features of the Peasant Revolt of Chung Hsiang and Yang Yao,” Li-shih Chiao-hsueh Wen-t'i (Problems of History Teaching), No. 3, 1958Google Scholar.
40 See Muramatsu, , op.cit., p. 262Google Scholar.
41 Sheng, Jung, “A Tentative Discussion of the Special Points in the Peasant Class Struggles of the Ming and Ch'ing,” in SSP, pp. 10–12Google Scholar; Kuo-chen, Hsieh, “Notes of Materials on the Function of the Late Ming and Early Ch'ing Peasant Revolts,” Li-shih Yei-chiu, No. 3, 1962, p. 145Google Scholar, and Shou-yi, Wang, “Doubts About the ‘Equal Land’ Slogan of the Late Ming Peasant Army,” Li-shih Yen-chiu, No. 2, 1962Google Scholar.
42 The term “old-style” (chiu-shih) peasant war is used to designate rebellions which conformed to the pattern of “pure peasant revolutions” (tan-ch'ün nung-min ke-ming) which erupted throughout the “feudal” period. In other words “old-style peasant revolts” are distinguished from peasant movements of the bourgeois period and especially from Communist-led peasant movements.
43 See articles in T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo Ke-ming Hsing-chih Wen-t'i T'ao-lun Chi (Collected Essays on the Nature of the Revolution of the T'ai-p'ing Heavenly Kingdom), Yen, Ching and Yen-shu, Lin, eds. (Peking: San-lien Shu-tien, 1961)Google Scholar. Seven views on the nature of the T'ai-p'ings presented in this book are summarised by Delyusin, L. P. in Narody Axii i Afriki (Peoples of Asia and Africa, hereafter NAA), No. 5, 1962, pp. 183–186Google Scholar.
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46 See People's Daily January 11, 1951, and January 11, 1956.
47 For instance, Lo Erh-kang, in 1957 (according to Feuerwerker, A. and Cheng, S., Chinese Communist Studies of Modern Chinese History [Cambridge: Harvard Un., 1961], p. 79CrossRefGoogle Scholar), declared that earlier versions of his works had exaggerated the “progressiveness” of the T'ai-p'ings. Lo had stated that the T'ai-p'ings had carried out a ”kind of field to the tiller policy”: e.g., Erh-kang, Lo, T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo Shih Shih K'ao (Investigation of Historical Events of the T'ai-p'ing Heavenly Kingdom) (Peking: San-lien Shv-tien, 1955), p. 205Google Scholar.
48 See articles of Lai Hsin-hsia in Kuang-pi, Li, ed., op. cit., pp. 427, 454, 459Google Scholar.
49 Engels, F., The Peasant War in Germany (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1956), p. 77Google Scholar; see also Kautsky, K., Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation (New York: Russell and Russell, 1959)Google Scholar.
50 e.g. see K'uan, Yang, “On the Function of Revolutionary Thought in the Chinese Peasant Wars and Its Relation with Religion,” SSP pp. 321–339Google Scholar, and “More on…,” ibid. pp. 353–368.
51 e.g., see Shun-cheng, Shao, “Secret Societies. Religion and the Peasant Wars,” SSP pp. 369–384Google Scholar.
52 See Sheng, Jung et al. , “Tentative Views on Relation between Peasant Wars and Religion in China,” SCMP, No. 2370, p. 10Google Scholar, citing the People's Daily, October 17, 1960.
53 See Tso-min, Sun, Chung-kuo Nung-min Chan-cheng, op. cit., p. 2Google Scholar, and Tso-min, Sun, “Historicism and Class Stand in the Research on the History of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” People's Daily, 02 27, 1964Google Scholar.
54 K'uan, Yang, op. cit., SSP, p. 339Google Scholar.
55 Ch'i Hsia, “On Several Questions in the Late Sui Peasant Revolts,” in Kuang-pi, Li, ed., op. cit., p. 110Google Scholar.
56 K'o, Ning, “The Question of Spontaneity and Consciousness in the Chinese Peasant Wars,” Extracts from China Mainland Magazine (ECMM) (Hong Kong: U.S. Consulate-General), No. 311, p. 43Google Scholar, citing Hung Ch'i (Red Flag), No. 7, 1962Google Scholar.
57 Marx, K. and Engels, F., The German Ideology (New York: New World, 1963), p. 71Google Scholar.
58 See Engels, F., Peasant War in Germany, p. 52Google Scholar.
59 Engels, F., Anti-Duhring (New York: International, 1939), p. 123Google Scholar.
60 See Lenin, V. I., “The Agrarian Programme of Social Democracy in the First Russian Revolution,” 1905–07, Collected Works (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1962), XIII, p. 237Google Scholar, and Tse-tung, Mao, “Rectification of Incorrect Ideas in the Party,” Selected Works, I, p. 111Google Scholar.
61 Lenin, V. I., “To the Rural Poor,” in Alliance of the Working Class and the Peasantry (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959), p. 32Google Scholar.
62 Mao, , “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” Selected Works, III, p. 75Google Scholar.
63 Wai-lu, Hou, op. cit., SSP p. 25Google Scholar; see also Wai-lu, Hou, “Historical Characteristics of the Peasant Wars of the T'ang and Sung,” Hsin Chien-she 03 1964Google Scholar.
64 Chung Kuo Li-tai … op. cit., p. 397.
65 Chuan, Liu, ‘Tentative Discussion’ of the Problem of the Goals of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao 09 17, 1959Google Scholar. See also SSP, p. 127.
66 K'o, Ningop. cit., p. 34Google Scholar.
67 “Opening of Discussion, of Problems of Peasant Wars in Chinese Feudal Society by Historical Circles,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, September 20, 1960.
68 K'o, Ning, op. cit., p. 34Google Scholar.
69 “Some Problems in the History of the Peasant Wars,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, November 7, 1961.
70 e.g., see Shou-yi, Pai, op. cit., SSP p. 185Google Scholar.
71 Tientsin Teachers' College History Dept., “Regarding a Heated Debate on the Question of the Laws of Development of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” SSP, p. 464Google Scholar.
72 Mo-jo, Kuo, “On Several Problems of Contemporary Historical Research,” Hsin Chien-she, No. 4, 1959Google Scholar, and Kuang-ming Jih-pao April 8, 1959.
73 See “Chinese Historians Meet in Peking…,” SCMP, No. 2514, pp. 21–22Google Scholar, citing People's Daily May 31, 1961.
74 Po-tsan, Chien, “Some Tentative Ideas Regarding Disposition of Several Historical Problems,” Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 12 22, 1961Google Scholar.
75 See Sun Tso-min, Chung-kuo Nung-min, op. cit.
76 e.g., Hsai, Ch'i, op. cit., in Kuang-pi, Li, ed., p. 110Google Scholar.
77 Mei-piao, Ts'ai, “Discussion of Several Problems in the Debate on the History of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” Li-Shih Yen-chiu, No. 4, 1961, p. 62Google Scholar.
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80 Hsia, Ch'i, “On the Question of the Nature of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” SSP, p. 72Google Scholar. Ch'i has now been accused of going too far to the other extreme and exaggerating the revolutionary consciousness of the Ch'in-Han peasant wars. See Ta-chun, Chu et al. , “Criticism of the History of the Ch'in-Han Peasant Wars,” Li-shih Yen-chiu, No. 4, 1963, pp. 74–75Google Scholar.
81 e.g., K'o, Ning, op. cit., ECMM, No. 311Google Scholar.
82 As expounded by Ts'ai Mei-piao and Sun Tso-min.
83 Tse-tung, Mao, “The Chinese Revolution and the Chinese Communist Party,” Selected Works, III, p. 76Google Scholar.
84 e.g. see Fan Wen-lan's statement that the source of the mistakes of the T'ai-p'ing leaders lay in the tendencies of the peasant class towards cliquism (tsung p'ai ssuhsiang) conservatism and hedonism (an-lo ssu-hsiang): Chung-kuo Chin-tai Shih (Modern Chinese History) (Peking: Jen-min Ch'u-pan She, 1961), pp. 151–152Google Scholar.
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86 Forming, of course, another contrast with traditional Marxist views.
87 Po-tsan, Chien, Lishih Wen-t'i Lun-ts'ung, op. cit., p. 135Google Scholar.
88 e.g., Pao-kuang, Chang, “The Problem of Vagabondism in the History of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” SSP p. 207Google Scholar.
89 Mao, , Selected Works, III, p. 76Google Scholar.
90 A division made by some scholars who have assumed the wish of government commanders to exaggerate the size of the rebels.
91 Such as the uprisings led by Thomas Muntzer (1525) in Germany and by E. Pugachov in Russia (1773–74). Uprisings of the Muromachi period in Japan and in other areas are perhaps more comparable.
92 See Shou-yi, Pai, “Special Points in the History of the Chinese Peasant Wars,” SSP, p. 237et seq.Google Scholar
93 Stalin, Joseph, Complete Works (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1955), XII, p. 115Google Scholar. However, Engels, , in Marx, Karl and Engels, Frederick, Selected Works in Two Volumes (hereafter the Selected Works) (Moscow: Foreign Languagesublishing House, 1958), 2, p. 59Google Scholar, noted that the Russian peasants did at times name their own pretender tsar, a fact which corresponds to the Chinese rebels' use of the concept of the mandate of heaven in naming their own candidates for emperor. Accordingly, the question of the existence of “monarcbism” (huang-ch'uan chu-yi) in the history of the Chinese peasant movements is another problem of considerable controversy in mainland historiography.
94 This stress on the role of the “people” more than on the evolution of the economy in contemporary Chinese historiography is another side of the “voluntarism” of Chinese Marxism referred to by Maurice Meisner (see “Li Ta-chao and the Chinese Communist Treatment of the Materialistic Conception of History” in this issue).
95 In addition to the many hundreds of articles on the subjeot there have been four book-length general studies, a few monographs on particular revolts, several collections of source materials and numerous popular pamphlets. There are some good studies (e.g. An-shih, Mou, T'a-p'ing T'ien-kuo [Shanghai: Jen-min Chu-pan She, 1959]Google Scholar), but so far the only major contribution of the Communists to the objective study of the peasant revolts has been the collection and editing of relevant documents and in some cases the discovery of new materials (e.g. local records). Perhaps more important to a future understanding of the phenomenon of rural unrest in Chinese history has been the attention given to previously neglected aspects of the revolts.