ABSTRACT
In 1945, the central government reorganized the provincial government of Yunnan by force. When the soldiers of the Fifth Army of the central government were sent after the Governor's officers and soldiers, Chang hid at home and dared not go out for a whole month. In 1920, a battalion of the irregular army arrived at Kunyang. In 1944 Colonel Liang, once an army officer, came to Kunyang to enforce conscription. Major Chang's life history illustrates how the army elite, although largely middle-class in origin, provided a channel by which sons of poor and little-educated peasants could reach the top, in Chang's case, through extreme self-sacrifice. The army, government, and commerce played important roles in upward social mobility. In a period of militarism or of international or civil war, the army played an especially significant role as "social stairway". Political organizations, beginning with the government and ending with the political party, also played the role of social elevator.
