REBELS AND REVOLUTIONARIES IN NORTH CHINA 1845-19

This essay summarizes and critiques Elizabeth Perry's social history of peasant rebellions in the north east Huai-pei region of China with particular reference to the Nien Rebellion of 1851-1863, the Red Spears movement 1911-1948 and Communist infiltration and mass mobilization of the peasant masses between the mid-1920s and 1945. The basic thesis of the author is that the outbreak of collective violence in the region was the product of ecological factors, basically the cycle of flood, drought and famine to which it had been subject for centuries, and in reaction to which it was a survival strategy. The form of that revolt, primarily predatory behavior such as the banditry of the Nien period or the village protection of the Red Spears period, was affected by the social structure and the influence of outside forces. The Communists found it very difficult to achieve dominant influence in the region and such success as they achieved was largely due to their willingness to devise strategies which responded to the needs of the local population and their traditions. The weakness of the Perry study is it borrows from the history of the period those elements which supports her point of view and ignores others which might help explain what was needed to convert a peasant revolt into a revolution.

The region under study lies north south between the Yellow and Huai rivers, which have carried onto

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ring" because of its corruption and oppressive ways (123). The peak in cooperation was achieved when the main bandit armies were united under the five banners in 1856 and the local Long Spear village militia established by the local gentry were merged with the Nien in 1860. However, this unity was short-lived. The feuds among bandit gangs remained dominant, as did their parochial clannish interests. Predatory plunder and the existing social structure could unite in tacit opposition to outsiders but the internal strains were too much to permit permanent unity to prevail. As Perry concludes, "its very structure --an association of small, segmented gangs --precluded well-coordinated activity . . . successful adaptation as parochial predators would not ensure a smooth transition to modern revolutionary action" (148). Red Spears and Village Defense After the Revolution of 1911 and until the Communist takeover in 1949, much of China, especially rural China was convulsed with civil strife, war, revolution, warlordism, famine and natural disasters. For much of that period, Perry says "the struggle for community protection against outside exactions" was largely the responsibility of rural self-defense forces known as the Red Spears (15
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Red Spears, Yellow Huai, Communists Deng, Ch'ing Manchu, Weaknesses Perry, Bare Sticks, Defense Revolution, President China, Perry Nien, Wars Taiping, red spears, huai-pei region, north china 1845-1945, red spears village, ecological factors, influence region, social structure, predatory behavior, huai-pei region china, modern revolutionary, red spears movement, spears movement, spears village defense, mass mobilization, nationalist government,
Approximate Word count = 1613
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)