Family and Government in Chinese Social HIstory Essay

Chen Village, China, gives us a close-up look at the life of majority of China’s population – the villagers – during the era of Communist leadership and policies during the 20th century. It presents an enthralling account of facts on Chinese villages in the throes of Maoist revolution followed by dramatic changes in village life and local politics during the Deng Xiaoping period. The once-backwater village is today a center of China’s export industry, where more than 50,000 workers labor in modern factories, ruled by the village government. This new edition of Chen Village illuminates, in microcosm, the recent history of rural China up to the present time (Chan, Madsen and Ungera). The passage manifests the revolution Chen village, and the whole of China as well, underwent in terms of her industrial aspect alongside with China’s shift from Communist Government to a Peoples’ Republic via a Revolution. Guo Xun, in â€Å"The Evils of the Old Marriage System (1921)†, explained the importance of a happy home. The bitterness of work is not worth the toil if its proceeds are not for something of prime importance for the worker. This emphasizes the oneness of government and people. It is of utmost necessity that the government is by the people; because it is only when it is theirs’ that they will obey whatever the government would command. The analogy of Guo Xun about the effects of forced marriage to a family and to the society to that of the whole country is very precise with what happened in the later parts of the history of China. When marriage is forced, the man and wife will not be committed to work for the family. When the couple does not work, they create a tremendous negative effect on the productivity of the society. When the parents do not do well for the family, they cannot make the children secured so as to develop obedience from them. Rightfully, when a government is not by the people, they will never harbor the passion to obey what the government suggests, instead, the constituents of the country will start to rebel and clash from the government so as to develop a revolution†¦ a revolution that in almost all cases and in almost every country that it existed results to a half-way victory – a new government to look over a barren, bloody land. In contrast to Hu Hanmin’s philosophy where the power to decide for the constituents is in the family head, Guo Xun, believes that there should be mutual understanding between the government and the constituents in order to establish a harmonious nation. If one looks at Chen Village now that China is under a Peoples’ Republic kind of government, it will look ten thousand miles afar better than when it was ruled by communism. A republican would so much likely be happy with what he can see than how a communist would be. And everything happened this sustaining up to this days because China did not continue to live under the power of a single communist leader whom the majority did not choose for them to obey, but asserted their right for a happy family†¦that one that is not forced, but is mutually and wholeheartedly committed to extend public service to an obedient people. Work Cited Anita Chan, Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Ungera. 2009. â€Å"Chen Village†. Revolution to Globalization, Third Edition. 29 May 2010.