ABSTRACT
One sign of the serious political and social instability of China’s Republican period was the proliferation of militia and other self-defense forces in local society. The first decade of this period saw a steady, if uneven, growth of militia activity as local communities responded both to political dislocations caused by recurring civil wars and warlord conflicts and to the increased banditry that flourished in this environment. In the mid-1920s this local militarization reached a new peak, not seen since the suppression of widespread rebellion in the mid-nineteenth century, in response to the social conflict that both contributed to, and was fostered by, the political struggle between the Nationalist and Communist parties. 1 This growth of militia forces led to the increasing power and influence of militia leaders in local society. In his 1927 report on the Hunan peasant movement, Mao Zedong described “local bullies and evil gentry” (tuhao lieshen) with independent jurisdiction over local defense corps as virtual “kings of the countryside” (xiangli wang). 2 This characterization was not simply Communist propaganda; Nationalist Party sources also described militia leaders as local “lords” (zhuhou) because of their extensive local powers. 3
