The Development in the Pearl River Delta and the Formation and Evolution of Rural Society

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If we make real and steady image of the rural society which was formed and evolved in the Pearl River Delta, it is indispensable to make clear the realities of settlement level situated at the base of rural society. My project discusses 'the Xi-Beijiang Old Delta (*******)' out of the Pearl River Delta, especially Shunde (**) county from the 19th to the early 20th centuries, using gazetteer and map materials.As a result, it has become clear that : 1) if we define the smallest regional and social unit composed of adjoining houses as a settlement, the notion of settlement is nearly equivalent to that of natural village in contemporary China, we can regard a fang (*) or a she (*) as a settlement or a natural village ; 2) until about 1930s, an administrative village which should be grasped by the county government, was in fact composed of a natural village or a group of natural villages joining together spontaneously ; 3) with regard to the relations between a natural village or an adminis … More trative village and the cultivated land close to it, not only an administrative village but also a natural village had its own boundries and territories ; 4) its boundries and territories were characterized by unfixation and unstability ; 5) the subject of developing land, such as that of building up embankments on it, was closely connected with that of holding sway over it as territory ; 6) the phenomenon of 'bageng (**)' in the civil war from 1945 to 1949 suggests that, at the cultivated land in a natural village's territory, even other villagers could hold the right of ownership, but only the very villagers could hold the right of management and tillage.Among Chinese historical studies in Japan after World War II,it has been nearly a common opinion that there had not been 'village communities (*****)' in Chinese rural society before 1949. And the weghty basis of the opinion is the inexistance of village boundries and territories. The fruit of my project, however, demands to reexamine the charactor of Chinese rural society before 1949. It remains to be discussed whether the charactor of boundries and territories changed with the progress of development. Less