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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2015
Before the 1937 Japanese invasion of China, almost all Chinese leaders and intellectuals believed that the large-scale agricultural settlement of China's western peripheries would rapidly deliver extensive economic and social benefits. At the onset of the war, many officials from the western provinces pressed the central government to fund programmes to allow millions of refugees from Japanese-occupied territory to settle on and cultivate ‘wasteland’ (huang) on the peripheries of their jurisdictions. Influenced more by pre-War ideology than the demands of the War, central and provincial governments established ‘land settlement and cultivation zones’ (kenzhiqu) in these provinces. However, these ventures were much less well supported than their proponents had hoped. This was not only because the War strained government finances—funding for kenzhiqu was always limited relative to support for agricultural cooperatives—but also partly because kenzhiqu attempts to recruit settlers clashed with the acute labour shortage in core zones of unoccupied China, which led to the abandonment of already cultivated land there, and partly because of the mistrust between central and regional governments. Nonetheless, wartime advocacy for more land cultivation in the Northwest did have important repercussions, leading to a renewed interest in penal colonies.
My thanks to Chang Li 張力, Peter Zarrow, the two anonymous readers, and those who offered comments when I presented this article in Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History seminar series. Most of the research for this article was conducted while I was a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Modern History.
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39 Xikang jiansheng weihuihui, ‘Nanmin kenzhi jihua shu’ [Plan for refugee agricultural settlement], December 1938, AH, 014000008849A.
40 Shen Honglie and Chen Furong, ‘Kenwu gongzuo zhi guoqu ji jianglai’, p. 1.
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42 Andres Rodriguez also argues that ‘the wartime period provided an exceptional opportunity for the GMD [Nationalist] state to experiment with a series of projects that sought to further its nation-state project in the borderland regions of China’. Hence, the ‘frontier service’ missions that Rodriguez discusses were also motivated by pre-War Nationalist thinking, even if the circumstances that allowed the missions to happen arose as a result of the War. Rodriguez, ‘Building the nation’, p. 347.
43 Luo Lixue, ‘Yisong tuiwu shibing ji nanmin zhiken bianjiang huangdi yi zengjia nongye shengchan an’, KMT, te 31 24 3 54.
44 ‘Leibo xian zhengfu cheng wei shoufu xianshu shidi niju yimin zhibian jihua gangyao’, 20 December 1941, Sichuan Provincial Archives (hereafter SPA), min115–8789.
45 Sichuan jiansheting tingzhang Hu Zi’ang, ‘Sheli tuiyi junren kenzhi shiyanqu zai Mabian Pingshan Ebian ji Songpan Lixian Maoxian, Wenchuan deng xian’ [Plans for the establishment of military cultivation and settlement experimental zones in Mabian, Pingshan, Ebian, and Songpan, Lixian, Maoxian, Wenchuan], February 1943, SPA, min115–8787.
46 Chen argues that ‘the ongoing power struggle with the Anhui faction induced the Zhili warlords to [. . .] support the May Fourth Movement. But they also supported [. . . it] for other reasons ranging from sincere patriotism to native-place relations with Shandong.’ Zhongping, Chen, ‘The May Fourth Movement and Provincial Warlords: A Reexamination’, Modern China 37, no. 2 (2011), p. 151Google Scholar. Hill concludes that Chen Jitang—the ‘King of the South’—‘helped to build one of China's most developed pre-socialist industrial bases’; Hill, Emily, Smokeless Sugar: The Death of a Provincial Bureaucrat and the Construction of China's National Economy (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), p. 222Google Scholar.
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55 ‘Qieshi shixing bingmin kentun’ [Practical measures for the implementation of land cultivation], 24 December 1942, KMT, 003 2365.
56 ‘Quanguo guo, min kenshe weifan jinling qudi fa’ [Nationwide measures for the suppression of illegal opium growing by state and private land cultivation societies], 16 June 1945, IMH, 20–26–003–10.
57 Gao Shangzhi, ‘Guanyu baosong ducha Pingshan, Mabian deng xian jinzheng qingxing de cheng, baogao’ [Report on an investigation of opium prohibition efforts in Pingshan and Mabian counties], 5 November 1942, Chongqing Municipal Archives, 0107 0004 00375.
58 ‘Kan cha Liping kenqu baogaoshu’ [Report of a survey of Liping kenzhiqu], 6 September 1948, Chongqing Municipal Archives, 0061–0015–01496.
59 Qi Zhongquan, ‘Nonglin bu Dongxishan kenhuangqu rongyu junren cong ken shiyan tan’ [On experimental cultivation for honoured soldiers at the Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture's Dongxishan wasteland cultivation zone], Ken Xun no. 3 (1943), p. 15.
60 ‘Xichang kenju, 31 nian 5–6 yuefen gongzuo yuebao yu huiyi jilu’, June 1942, IMH, 20–87e-8–3.
61 ‘Feichang shiqi nanmin yiken tiaoli’ [Emergency period regulations for refugee migration and land cultivation], Zhongyang yinhang yuebao [Bank of China Monthly] no. 8–12 (1939), pp. 1037, 1039.
62 ‘Xin nongcun jianshe mian an’ [Plans for the construction of new villages] in Ningxia sheng nanmin yiken shishi jihua yusuan [Ningxia Province plans and budgets for refugee migration and land cultivation], October 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
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65 Chinese labels have been translated and positioned as they appear on the original map; instead of ‘houses’, though, the original map includes numbers 1–50, for the 50 households the village was intended for. Buildings without a label are unlabelled on the original plan.
66 Ibid.
67 On the rise of the danwei system during the Sino-Japanese War, see Bian, Morris L., The Making of the State Enterprise System in Modern China: The Dynamics of Institutional Change (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Of course, the Communist Party also initiated land-settlement and cultivation schemes during the War of Resistance which were also an important influence on post-1949 resettlement ventures. Zhang Zhonghan, who was a regimental commander at the famous Nanniwan land cultivation area in Shaanxi, served as both a deputy political commissar in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Army Corps, and the vice director of the Corps’ Land Cultivation Bureau (nongken bu). See Langyu, Liu, ‘Zhang Zhonghan—cong Nanniwan dao Xinjiang junken’ [Zhang Zhonghan—from Nanniwan to military land cultivation in Xinjiang], Yan huang chun qiu no. 2 (2004), pp. 58–64Google Scholar. To what extent the post-1949 land settlement programmes drew on the experience of the kenzhiqu of the pre-1949 provincial governments and the Nationalist Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture is a topic worthy of further research.
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70 The report omitted numbers of people who went to kenzhiqu at Leibo (Sichuan), Funiu (Henan), and Shunchang (Fujian). The site at Leibo had already been turned over to the military bureau in charge of wounded soldiers (see below), and the other two received less funding than the others, so it is unlikely that many people went to them.
71 Zhou, ‘Kangzhan shiqi Sichuan kenzhi yundong’, p. 57.
72 Sheng and Shen, 1942, AH, 001000006781A (1592).
73 Shen and Chen, ‘Kenwu gongzuo zhi guoqu ji jianglai’, p. 1. As we saw above, a few historians have put the number of wartime settlers to Xinjiang at around 10,000. I cannot explain this discrepancy.
74 Zhang Bin, ‘Kangzhan shiqi Sichuan nongye daikuan tanxi—yi nongcun hezuo jinrong wei zhongxin de kaocha’ [An examination of agricultural lending in wartime Sichuan, focusing on village cooperative finance], MA thesis, Sichuan Normal University, 2011, p. 42. Yao Guangyu, ‘San nian lai ben bu zhi xia kenqu yewu gaikuang’, p. 7.
75 ‘Kan cha Liping kenqu baogaoshu’.
76 ‘Kan cha Liping kenqu baogaoshu’.
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92 Yao, ‘San nian lai ben bu zhi xia kenqu yewu gaikuang’, p. 8.
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94 ‘Nonglinbu Xikang Xichang tunken shiyanqu guanliju di sici kenwu huiyilu’ [Minutes from the fourth meeting of the Xichang Experimental Cultivation Zone Administration], 22 April 1942, IMH, 20–87e-8–2.
95 Zhou Yunrong, ‘Kangzhan shiqi Sichuan kenzhi yundong chutan’ [The land cultivation movement in Sichuan during the Anti-Japanese War], MA thesis, Sichuan University, 2007, p. 33.
96 Li Zhongquan, ‘Sichuan sheng Pingbei kenqu nongye gaikuang’ [General survey of Sichuan's Pingbei cultivation region], Sichuan jingji jikan [Sichuan Economy Quarterly] no. 3 (1945), p. 304.
97 Ibid.
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105 Lary, Diana, ‘One Province's Experience of War: Guangxi, 1937–1945’, in McKinnon, Stephen, Lary, Diana and Vogel, Ezra (eds), China at War. Regions of China, 1937–1945 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007), p. 319Google Scholar.
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110 Ibid, p. 150.
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114 Report from the Nonglinbu Xikang Taining kenqu guanliju [Ministry of Forestry and Agriculture Xikang Taining cultivation region administration], 1944, IMH, 20–26–39–15. For the ranch at Gartar, see Lawson, ‘Warlord Colonialism’, p. 306.
115 Tibetan ethnicity may be guessed from individuals’ names (as written in Chinese characters), but not with total certainty in all cases. Report from the Nonglinbu Xikang Taining kenqu guanliju, 1945, IMH, 20–04–185–11.
116 Hill, Smokeless Sugar, pp. 50–51.
117 Li Fanqun, quoted in Erkin Ekrem, ‘Zhong Su guanxi zhong de “Dongtu” wenti (1944–1945)’ [The ‘East Turkestan problem’ within Sino-Soviet relations (1944–1945)], Liang An fazhan shi yanjiu no. 6 (December 2008), p. 128.
118 Luo Lixue, ‘Yisong tuiwu shibing ji nanmin zhiken biangjiang huangdi’, KMT, te 31 24 3 54.
119 Xikang jiansheng weihuihui, ‘Nanmin kenzhi jihua shu’, AH, 014000008849A.
120 ‘Jiaoyu bu gonghan. Xikang xuesheng ying fu Xichang kenqu lü fei’ [Ministry of Education communication. Xikang student visit to Xichang cultivation zone request for 4,000 yuan travel expenses], IMH, 18–21–16–020–01.
121 Central Relief Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Ministry of Internal Affairs, ‘Guanyu Kang Ning Min san sheng nanmin yiken gongyi san’an jing hui shang ni ju yi’, 2 March 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
122 Ibid; Ningxia provincial government communication with the Executive Yuan, 7 August 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
123 Ningxia provincial government communication with the Executive Yuan, 7 August 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
124 Central Relief Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Ministry of Internal Affairs communication with the Executive Yuan, 5 October 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
125 Ningxia provincial government communication with the Executive Yuan, 7 November 1939, AH, 014000008849A.
126 ‘Qieshi shixing bingmin kentun’, 24 December 1942, KMT, 003 2365.
127 Ibid.
128 Muscolino, ‘Refugees, Land Reclamation, and Militarized Landscapes’, p. 464.
129 Kong Xiangxi, ‘Cheng guan kaifa xibei chubu sheshi caoan’, 9 November 1942, AH, 001000006781A (1611).
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132 Goullart, Princes of the Black Bone, p. 217.
133 ‘Xikang sheng canyi hui, di yi ci hui hui bian’ [Minutes of the first meeting of the provisional Xikang Provincial Assembly], 1940, section 8, p. 12a, SPA, min204–14.
134 Ibid.
135 Ibid.
136 Ibid.
137 ‘Feichang shiqi nanmin yiken tiaoli’, p. 1037.
138 ‘Guangdong sheng nanmin yiken shishi banfa’ (Guandong Province procedures and regulations for refugee migration), Nong dai xiaoxi (Agricultural credit news), 2, no. 1 (1940), p. 15.
139 Gao Taiyan and Yu Chengzhong, ‘Shanxi Meifu ken qu nanmin jiti nongchang diaocha baogao’ [Survey report of the refugee collective farm in Shaanxi's Meifu cultivation zone], Xibei Nongbao [Northwestern Agricultural Bulletin] no. 2 (1946), p. 32.
140 ‘Wei kaifa Xibei xunshe zhuanze jigou bing ban jiangzhu tiaoli qieshi yimin’ [Discussion on the need for prompt establishment of specialized bureau for the development of the Northwest, and the creation of incentives for migration], 24 December 1942, KMT, 003 2362.
141 Kong Xiangxi, ‘Caizhengbu gonghan’ [Ministry of Finance communication], 1943, IMH, 20–26–36–2.
142 Many writers seem to have been shocked by the condition of migrant societies in the Northwest. In 1934, Yan Weiti gave a typical description of migrants in Suiyuan: ‘People have almost no sense of sympathy for one another; neighbours do not help each other. [. . .] Their behaviour and customs are crude: casual fornication and adultery are common. Even people who barely know each other fall in love with great haste. [. . .] The underworld (jianghu) life is common here, and, without anything else to do, sex, gambling and opium smoking are the three main ways of passing time outside farm labour. [. . .] Many of the women in Hetao are prostitutes and most of the men smoke opium. Even the local gentry engage in such shameful activities.’ Yan Weiti, ‘Hetao diaocha ji’ [A record of a survey of Hetao] in Neimenggu shi zhi, Vol. 39, pp. 139–140.
143 Chen Zhongwei, Xikang wenti [The Xikang question] (Shanghai: Zhonghua shu ju, 1930), p. 260; ‘Tuxing renfan yiken tiaoli’ [Regulations for the prisoner transportation and land cultivation work], 1934, AH, 001000000499A (2157).
144 Wu Jingchao, ‘Lun Huifu Liuxing’ [On the restoration of exile as a punishment], Duli Pinglun [Independent critique] no. 66 (1933), p. 14.
145 ‘Tuxing renfan yiken tiaoli’, AH, 001000000499A (2142).
146 Chongqing Zhongguo yinhang diaocha zuzhi [Chongqing Bank of China survey team], ‘Diaocha Ziliao’ [Survey reports], Chuanbian Jikan [Sichuan Frontier Quarterly] 1, no. 1 (1935), p. 176.
147 ‘Tu xing ren fan yi ken shishi banfa’ [Measures for transportation of prisoners for land-cultivation], Guangxi sheng zhengfu gongbao [Guangxi provincial government bulletin] no. 854 (1940).
148 Dikötter, Frank, Crime, Punishment and the Prison in Modern China (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), p. 349Google Scholar. ‘Tuxing renfan yiken shishi banfa’ [Measures for transportation of prisoners for land-cultivation], AH, 014000008823A.
149 ‘Huabo Huanglongshan huangdi yiken tuxing renfan’ [Assigning wasteland in Huanglongshan for prisoner land cultivation], December 1942, IMH, 20–26–036–5; ‘Ni liyong Zhangye xian 20 li hetan wei junshi fanken qu’ [Using 20 li of riverside land in Zhangye for military prisoner land cultivation], July 1943, IMH, 20–26–036–6.
150 ‘Guizhou sheng pingba xian yangyanba wei renfan kenhuang qu’ [Convict land cultivation at Yangyanba, Pingba county, Guizhou], 1941, IMH, 20–26–036–01.
151 Ministry of Agriculture communications with the Ministry of Finance, 16 January 1943, IMH, 20-26-036-2.
152 He Yingqin, ‘Junzheng bu gonghan: wei junshi fan yiken yi an’ [Ministry of War communication: on the transportation of military prisoners for land-cultivation work], May 1943, IMH, 20-26-036-2.
153 Ibid.
154 ‘Tu xing ren fan yi ken shishi banfa’.
155 Dikötter, Crime, Punishment and the Prison, p. 350.
156 ‘Tuxing renfan yiken tiaoli’, AH, 001000000499A(2180).
157 ‘Tuxing renfan yiken tiaoli’, AH, 001000000499A (2173).
158 ‘Huabo Huanglongshan huangdi yiken tuxing renfan’, December 1942, IMH, 20-26-036-5.
159 Ibid.
160 Ibid.
161 ‘Sa san niandu quanguo min fan cong ken diaocha’ [1944 national survey of civilian prisoners doing cultivation work], 19 January 1945, IMH, 20-26-037-14.
162 ‘Yanbian Yuli sifa xian zhengfu kanshousuo cheng’ [Report from Yuli, Yanbian county jail], 1945, IMH, 20-26-037-1.
163 Dikötter, Crime, Punishment and the Prison, p. 350.
164 ‘Sichuan ge jiansuo yijue weijue renfan diaocha jianbao’ [Summary report of surveys of prisoners convicted and awaiting judgment in Sichuan], AH, 022000004855A.
165 Lin, Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers, p. 123.
166 A growing body of literature stresses the institutional continuities between Nationalist and Communist rule. See, for example, Bian, The Making of the State Enterprise System. On settlements in the Northwest in the 1950s, see Rohlf, Greg, ‘Dreams of Oil and Fertile Fields: The Rush to Qinghai in the 1950s’, Modern China 29, no. 4 (October 2003), pp. 455–489CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Rohlf notes that ‘in their centralized management, extreme regimentation, state ownership of almost everything, and rhetoric [state farms in Qinghai] were very similar to agricultural communes’ (p. 472). It seems likely that Communist state farms and communes were both influenced by some combination of 1) pre-1949 Communist practice; 2) Soviet state farms; and 3) the kenzhiqu and other wartime experiments of Nationalist China. More research is required to determine which influences were most important in particular cases.
167 Yan Zongtai, ‘Delingha nongchang jianchang jingguo’ [The establishment of the Delingha farm] in Qinghai wenshiziliao xuanbian, di shijiu ji: chuang ye lu [Qinghai historical and literary materials. Volume 19: The foundations of industry] (Xining: Qinghai renmin chubanshe, 1991), p. 100; Zhang Lijun, ‘Qian gu huangmo bian lüzhou–ji Nuobenhong nongchang de kaifa ji yeji’ [Making oases in the thousand-year wasteland: a record of the establishment of the Nuobenhong farm], in Qinghai wenshiziliao xuanbian, di shijiu ji, p. 108.
168 Lin, Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers, p. 23.
169 Eastman, Seeds of Destruction, pp. 162, 164–165.
