The abstracts of various theses concerning Taishan County are detailed below. If any appears to be of particular interest, you will have to access the original yourself, as I will not do that for you.
If you know of any others that may be appropriately included here, please contact me.
Index to Abstracts:
Abstract of thesis entitled "A Study of Armed Conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka in Central Kwangtung, 1856 - 1867" submitted by Zheng De Hua for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in July, 1989.
The armed conflict between the Punti and the Hakka in Central Kwangtung from 1856 to 1867 were not simply conflicts between different dialect groups. There existed a far more complex historical background. Besides examining the course of the conflicts, this dissertation also analyzes the rural social structure of Kwangtung province in the 19th Century, the social problems which existed, especially those after the first Opium War, and the real causes of these conflicts.
The dissertation is divided into the following seven chapters:
Chapter I: Introduction
This introduces the source materials, both primary and secondary, used in this study. The sources utilized include archival materials, family genealogies, provincial district gazetteers, memorials, related books and modern studies. The second part of this chapter reviews past research on the conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka people. The third part outlines the research methodology employed.
Chapter II: "Punti" and "Hakka" in Central Kwangtung
This chapter provides an outline of the origins of the Punti people, and looks at how and when the Punti dialect group was formed and when the group moved into central Kwangtung. A similar outline is provided for the Hakka people. The special characteristics of the two dialect groups were gradually formed through long processes of migration and assimilation, and these processes are subjected to a comparative examination.
Chapter III: The Common People Lineage and the Gentry in Kwangtung
A new concept, the common people lineage is put forward in the first part. After the Sung Dynasty, the lineage system experienced a great change, especially in Southern China. Common people lineages became much stronger during the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties. Lineage land, ancestral halls and family genealogical records are the main supporting evidence for the existences of common people lineages. In the second part, the rural gentry is investigated. They acquired leadership of the lineages, and had controlling power in the rural areas. The gentry became increasingly important to local government after the first Opium War.
Chapter IV: The Social Problems in Kwangtung during the 19th Century
This chapter does not detail all the social problems of 19th Century Kwangtung, but concentrates on the conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka. It provides an account of the local government system and details its shortcomings. It also looks at the population explosion, conflicts in Southern China during the Ch'ing Dynasty, and uprisings by the Heaven and Earth Society and the Red Turbans as causes of social disorder.
Chapter V: The Course of the Armed Conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka
After regional conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka began in 1856, they spread quickly to Hsin-ning, Kai-p'ing, En-p'ing, Kao-ming, Hao-shan, Hsin-hsing, Yang-chiang and Yang-ch'un counties. The situation in Hsin-ning county was particularly serious. The conflicts ended in 1867, with suppression by imperial forces, and suffering on both sides.
Chapter VI: An Analysis of the Armed Conflicts
This focuses on several aspects: the characteristics of the armed conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka, the form and structure of the conflicts, the reasons for the conflicts continuing for twelve years and spreading to eight counties, as well as the relationship between the conflicts and the formation of dialect group consciousness.
Chapter VII: Consequences of the Armed Conflicts
The armed conflicts between the Punti and the Hakka brought great suffering to the people of central Kwangtung. Thousands of villages were destroyed, much land fell into disuse and large numbers of people fled from their hometowns and died during the conflicts. The conflicts forced the Hakka people living in the central region to move again, social disorder stimulated the emigration which had commenced in the mid-19th Century. Moreover, the conflicts also left a series of social problems which required a long period to solve.
This work shows how the economic miracles of emigrant communities are embedded in their particular social structures.
Taishan is one of the most famous emigrant communities in the Western Pearl River Delta with its worldwide kinship networks facilitating the economic development there. Apart from its populous overseas emigrants, Taishan is also characterised by large-scale lineages. Evidences indicate that these gigantic kinship organisations did play a dominant role in all aspects of traditional social life. The strong lineages usually controlled several market towns in which most economic and cultural activities took place. In the wake of the Communist revolution, however, the traditional rural structure is supposed to have decomposed. Some observers even conclude that lineages have disintegrated because of the unprecedented expansion of bureaucratic control in the early years of Communist rule.
Nevertheless, an increasing quantity of evidences indicate that lineage activities have recently returned to the scene in some coastal regions, such as the Pearl River Delta. In the fast developing Eastern and Central Delta, the revival of lineages is more pronounced than that in the less developed Western Delta. However, the particular social conditions of the latter nurture a closer relationship between lineage revival and economic development.
Instead of treating lineage revival as a dependent viable, we consider kinship ties an initiating factor of investment in the rural industrial sector. Our study of two market towns in Taishan illustrates how the lineages induce capital and entrepreneurial skills to their local communities by activating kinship networks. In order to revive their traditional spheres of influence, those lineages compete with each other in terms of industrial development. Thus, a mutually reinforced relationship is formed between lineage revival and economic development in these rural communities.
On the one hand, I draw a comparison between the geographical distribution of industries and location of the lineages in these market towns. In a wider perspective, two theoretical issues are brought forth in connection with the prospect of modernisation in China, i.e. the reassessment of traditions and transformation of traditional institutional framework. Finally, these long-standing problems are reconsidered in the contemporary social and historical context.
Despite China's control over emigration through a complex administrative system, Southern China has been one of the most important sources of Chinese migrants overseas. Close economic and social links have been developed between these Chinese emigrants and their home communities.
This study attempts to place the development of southern China in the context of its relationship with overseas Chinese. As Taishan County is among the counties in southern China with the largest number of overseas Chinese relatives, it is taken as a case study. The study is centred around the analysis of the pattern of emigration from Taishan County and the impact of the remittances, sent back by emigrants, on local development. The focus of this study is on the period between 1949 and 1987. The role of emigration in the regional development of Taishan extends beyond economic considerations as the overseas migrants have been fundamental in bringing about major social transformations.
To highlight the economic implications of migration for a centrally planned economy, the trend of overseas remittances into Taishan County will be presented and analyzed. At the household level, it is found that overseas remittances constitute a significant source of family income. At the regional level, overseas remittances had been the sole source of foreign exchange revenue of Taishan County between 1949 and 1978.
The pattern of overseas remittance expenditure in Taishan County reinforces the linkages between overseas Chinese and their sending communities. In particular, donations of overseas Chinese into the provisions of infrastructure and basic needs are substantial. All these have resulted in improvements in the living standard of the population which is reflected in basic social indicators such as education and health. This study demonstrates that overseas migration has played an active role in promoting the developemnt of Taishan County and its people.
Taishan
Genealogy
Copyright: ©2003 Jon Kehrer,
Canberra