ABSTRACT
During the Republican period, the Yangzi delta was ruled by several different state powers successively and sometimes even simultaneously. Although in this period, especially during the period of the Nationalist rule, the pace of state-making and modernization greatly accelerated, the relationship between the state and rural society generally followed the pattern set in the late Qing. Both the Nationalist state and the wartime Japanese Occupation authorities exploited absentee landlordism to ensure the collection of land taxes and to mediate between antagonistic classes. Even the Communists followed suit in their wartime operation in this area. This development stands in sharp contrast to the situation in rural North China. This chapter will discuss the state-society relations during the Nanjing period and the War of Resistance, and leave the Communist wartime operation to the next chapter.
