Fei Xiaotong

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Fei Xiaotong (Chinese: 費孝通) (November 2, 1910 – April 24, 2005) was a pioneering Chinese researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology; he was also noted for his studies in the study of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist. Considered by some as one of China's finest and most prominent sociologists and anthropologists, his works on these subjects were instrumental in laying a solid foundation for the development of sociological and anthropological studies in China, as well as in introducing social and cultural phenomena of China to the international community. His last post before his death in 2005 was as Professor of Sociology at Peking University.

Among Fei Xiaotong's contributions to anthropology is the concept that Chinese social relations work through social networks of personal relations with the self at the center and decreasing closeness as one moves out. Among the criticisms of Fei Xiaotong's work is that his work tended to ignore regional and historical variations in Chinese behavior; nonetheless, as a pioneer and educator, his intent was to highlight general trends, thus this simplification may have had significant justification for Fei's intent, even if they created a bias in studies of Chinese society and culture.

Contents

[edit] Life

[edit] Fei’s Beginnings

Fei was a Chinese who was born in Wujiang County of Jiangsu Province in China on November 2, 1910. His world was one plagued with political corruption and abject poverty. He grew up in a gentry but yet not wealthy family. His father was educated in the Chinese classics and earned a shengyuan civil service degree. And he studied his way in Japan in Western learning for Chinese students. He founded a school—the first modern Japanese model in the province. Fei’s mother, Yang Renlan, was highly educated for her time, as well. She also established a nursery school in Wujiang where Fei attended.

In 1931, his own country of China was being taken over by the Japanese. Japan had seized Manchuria and the Japanese’s Manchurian puppet Puyi was put on the throne. But that did not satisfy the Japanese. They began to make their way through the Great Wall into northern China. In the midst of this turmoil, Fei was able to hide among the villages of Yunnan Province in order to finish his work on studying Chinese society. There, he also voiced his opinion in writing regarding the social ills of his society.

[edit] Going Into Anthropology

It was in this historical juncture in the nation that Fei Hsiao Tung began his work on socio-anthropology in China. He graduated from Yanjing University in 1933 with his B.A. degree in sociology and his M.A. in anthropology from Tsinghua University in 1935. After his graduation from Tsinghua University, he went on his first research trip into the mountainous region of southwest China with his new wife, Wang Tonhui. She was also a fellow anthropologist. However, she died trying to find help when Fei was caught in a tiger trap. He took a little time off to recuperate from his injury at Kaixiangong village near his birthplace, where his sister had started a silk-manufacturing business. It was here that he began making notes on his book, Peasant Life in China. The book was an attempt to analyze the village’s economy and social life. The goal was so that reformers can know how to assist peasants to improve their lives. He recorded the sufferings of peasants who depended on rice farming and silk weaving to survive. When the price of silk falls, so does the lives of the peasants.

Nevertheless, he finished his Ph.D. of Philosophy in 1938 at the London School of Economics in Britain. And there he studied under the British Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. His thesis was his book, Peasant Life in China, which won him international fame. Upon his return, he began teaching sociology at Yun’nan University and was director of the Yanjing-Yun-nan Sociological Research Station. Here, he called for “an effective land policy” and warned against improving the lives of peasants solely on land policy. During this time, he also published a series of studies on Chinese society.

Between 1945 and 1946, he gave a lecture at the London School of Economics, which was promoted by R. H. Tawney. That was also where he published his book Earthbound China completed his fellowship at the Royal Anthropological Institute. Tawney made a big impact in Fei’s ministry in China. In fact, Tawney was a key supporter of the China Campaign Committee, which raised funds in the United Kingdom for the war.

[edit] Communism in China

Up to this time, anti-Japanese sentiments had been building up. The Communist Party took the opportunity to spread their teachings and influence against the efforts of the Nationalists. Mao Tse Tung had been successful in recruiting troops for his Red Army in defense of the people. Heavily successfully and effectively adapted the teachings of Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese condition. And his teachings became the basic tenets of the Chinese Communist Party—also known as Mao Zedong Thought. Fei joined the Democratic League in 1944 that were a party of independent intellectuals committed to social and democratic reform. They were a minor party that is a part of the United Front of the Communist Party of China. In 1945, the finally Japanese surrendered with the unexpected help of the Soviet Union.

After the liberation, Fei was among the national researchers of China to embark on a research to study ethnic questions. Organized by the Central People’s Government, he visited and interviewed ethnic minorities in Guizhou. And from 1945 to 1951, he served as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and professor at Tsinghua University until his appointment as Vice President and professor in the newly established Central College of Ethnical Studies. It was during this time that he wrote articles and books on Chinese history and culture of which he became well-known for.

In 1952, the Communist Party implemented a series of reforms. One of these was the denial of sociology as an academic discipline in China and all studies and departments dealing with sociology in colleges ceased by the fall of 1952. The major centers for anthropology at the time were at Ayangjing, Qinghua, Zhongshan, Xiamen, and Yunnan universities. Other fields of study such as the law school, school of agriculture, school of sciences and humanities, and others also ceased.

Why specifically sociology and anthropology? What threat are they to the Communist Chinese that anything having to do with the science of anthropology or sociology has to cease? Our answer has to do with political and social baggage toward sociology and anthropology. Prior to this time, sociology and anthropology were used by the imperialists to control and take advantage of the people. It had a stench that smelled imperialism, capitalism, racism as well as colonialism. And anything that had to do with the west or western studies and tools was a bad taste for the Communist Chinese. Those listed as rightists included Wu Wenzao, Wu Zelin, Pan Guangdan, and Fei Xiaotong as well as Chen Da, Li Jinghan, Wu Jingchao, and Zhao Chingxin.

[edit] Fei In The Depths

However in 1956, Fei was put in charge of studying the social development of the national minorities of China organized by the Standing Committie of the National People’s Congress, which ended in 1957. His assignment was to do an ethnological classification of minorities in China into “minority nationalities.” Although he was unable to publicly do anything associated with sociology or anthropology, his insights of society grew. And despite the restrictions, he continued to do his studies on the people of China and wrote when he had the opportunity. Also in 1956, he published an article on valuing the work of intellectuals for a non-party intellectual activity called the Hundred Flowers. He also participated in the Democratic League’s recommendation of an Institute of Social Sciences. The focus would be the theoretical basis of sociology rather than Marxist political economy. And he returned to his research in the Yangtze village. He also did analysis of his hometown, Wujian, and made suggestions on developing secondary production in the countryside. It was due to these activities that he was banned from publishing or teaching anything on sociology or anthropology. Another case against him was that he was a learned western scholar, being taught by Malinowski and Tawney. That made him a suspicious target. What made him look worse was his unwillingness to join the Chinese Communist Party at the time although many of the older scholars had joined already such as Lin Huixiang and Ying Yaohua. Instead, he was paid to do nothing but translate old books from English to Chinese. Although unable to carry out sociological or anthropological studies, he did conducted studies among the ethnic minorities of China.

In 1957, Mao announced the Great Leap Forward, which was a policy posted to help China’s industrial production to pass that of Great Britain in fifteen years. It was also implemented to improve technical development. Though some developments were made in the countryside and a few urban areas, the Great Leap was an economic failure. His program came under scrutiny and criticism. By April 1959, Mao stepped down from his position as chairman and Liu Shaoqui became his successor, although Mao continued to run the country from the sidelines. But despite the new administration, Fei remained in purgatory.

In 1966, there were a number of public critical isolation toward Fei. There were articles such as “The Reactionary Nature of the Functionalist Social Anthropology Imported by Fei Xiaotong and Others” or “Criticizing Fei Xiaotong’s Comprador Sociology” appeared all over China. One in which his integrity was attacked was titled “The Sinister and Detestable Fei Xiaotong.” Here, Lin Yaohua accused him of undermining the fruits of the revolution and seeking to rouse an uprising. As time went by, these criticisms turned into physical attacks and he was sent to hard labor as an “enemy of the people.” He was accused of helping to import “from England and the United States . . . reactionary bourgeois anthropological and sociological theories.” Many of his fellow intellectuals had left while he stayed and endured. Lin also accused Wu Wenzo the teacher of Lin and Fei. Others criticized were Yang Chingzhi, Yan Kun and Cen Jiawu of the South Central Nationalities College.

If there ever was the lowest point in his life, this was it. He contemplated suicide but did not. He learned detachment and observed himself and others as subjects of a long historical process—a lesson well worth enduring the suffering.

Fei wrote proposals on the development of the Yellow River Delta and Shanghai economic revitalization. He also won many international honors at this time. Also during this time, Fei was able to gather and collage a number of volumes of historical and geographical information on the nationalities in the western border region. He also translated two large volumes of world history into Chinese.

In 1954, one of the old guard of the Chinese Communist Party, Den Xiaoping, became the party’s Secretary General. However, he was removed by Chairman Mao in 1966 due to his objections to the immoderation of the Great Leap Forward. He was not reinstated into any office until 1974.

[edit] The Turning Point

December 1978 was the turning point of China’s post-Cultural Revolution history. The Third Plenum of the Eleventh Party Congress was reoriented and the country turned to a new vision—“socialist modernization.” The Party had adopted new program to build a powerful, modern, socialist China by the year 2000 A.D.

In a monumental speech in 1979 as the de facto leader to the People’s Republic of China, Deng stated, “We have ignored the study of political science, law, sociology, and world politics for the past many years. Now we need to re-start.” These words brought about vindication and revival to the study of sociology and anthropology in China. In that same year, the China Sociology Society was established. The mission of the association was to promote sociological studies in China. Fei Hsiao Tung served as a key organizer and trainers of the society along with help from those in philosophy as well as a handful of American and Japanese sociologist who were invited to lecture. Among these were his classmate Yang Qingkun from Yanjing University along with Hu Ziaomu and Wu Wenzao.

However, there were still challenges to overcome. For example in the same year, Fei organized seminars to revive sociology and invited Yang Qingkin or C. K. Yang from the University of Pittsburgh. Criticisms that accused him of brining “capitalism back to China” discouraged him and he canceled Yang’s reservations until a few years after.

With five adjunct professors from other fields, the first graduate program in sociology was established at Nankai University in 1981—where Fei was an alumnus. Sociology degrees ceased to be given from 1952 to 1982. But after 1982, sociology departments sprung up in such key universities as Peking, Zhongshan, Remin and Fudan as well as throughout all the provinces. Liang Zhaotao was another noted anthropologist who taught at the University of Zhongda. He was instrumental in establishing anthropology departments at the University of Zhongda, Xiada and Yunda. Other schools of disciplines were also reestablished.

Despite the rumors of his opposition after supporting the revival of anthropology, Fei became the first Director of the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences starting in 1980 until 1985. Then in 1989, as a supporter of the student demonstrators on Tiananmen Square, he was removed from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Afterwards, he reestablished himself as Director of the Institute of Sociology in Peking University—also referred to as Beijing University. He became a central figure in founding modern Chinese sociology.

[edit] Death

He was Professor of Sociology at Peking University, also known as Beijing University, at the time of his death on April 24, 2005 in Beijing at the age of 94. A memorial has been set up in the Department of Sociology at the university, where he has taught and directed since the 1980s.

[edit] Accomplishments

[edit] Fei’s Contributions to China

As a result of the influence by Malinowski and Tawney, Fei conducted in-depth studies on and in small towns in China and argued for their development. He believes that the small towns of China are the key to the growth of productive force, population distribution, urban-rural relationships, modernization and urbanization of China. He was crafty in integrating contemporary Chinese sociology with Confucian values. He states that sociology should be grounded in the conditions of Chinese society and advocates that sociology should grasp and reflect the characteristics of Chinese society.

As stated, Fei was heavily influenced by the functionalist Malinowski. Reflecting on his own studies, Fei quotes Malinwoski’s article for his teacher, Sir James Fraser, that read: “I shall invite my readers to step outside the closed study of the theorists into the open air of the anthropological field.” With his work in China, he did not forget the teachings of his “tutor.” Though a professor and political personnel, he was often in the midst of the people whom he studied and worked for. He traveled extensively in China, as well as Mongolia and Thailand. In discussions and debates of academia, Fei would boldly make it clear that he is a functionalist.

[edit] Fei’s Contribution to Anthropology

For Fei, his contribution to anthropology was the concept that Chinese social relations work through social networks of personal relations. The idea is that the self is in the center. As one goes further out, there is decreasing closeness. This individual link within the social network is guanxi while the feeling within the link is qanqing. And social relations are often expressed by the exchange of gifts. A related concept is the Buddhist idea of yuanfen. Yuanfen is the predetermined principle that determines a person’s relationships and encounters, which are usually positive. It is the “binding force” between two persons of any relationship.

Contrary to this concept of Chinese social relations, his opponents propose that his work tends to ignore regional and historical variations in Chinese behavior. They say that there are many problems but three stands out the most. First, there are social relations that are not directly observable by an individual. With these, you can only infer with speculations. Next, is reflexivity: the scientist is in a very obvious way himself or herself part of the social world that is being studied. Finally, even animal and insect populations display a kind of “social” behavior. Thus, social relations are not unique to human relations and it would even exist between humans and animals.

His life’s work and research were in the areas of sociology and anthropology but he was also known for being a political activist and advisor. Being influenced by Bronislaw Malinowski, his focus was on the fieldwork method, particularly on the comparative study of communities. He studied and wrote about the social conditions of China and gave his views on how to improve life for the Chinese people. As a political advisor of economic reform in the post-Mao era, his push for rural industrialization brought the Chinese economy up to par with other modern societies. During his research at Peking or Bejing University, Fei continued his tours of the Chinese provinces. In the 1980s, he proposed that farmers start village enterprises and become urbanized without leaving the land. His theories and recommendations helped increase the development of township enterprises in China. His efforts built up a stronger economy, particularly in the coastal areas.

[edit] Fei’s Contribution to the World

His efforts to help the world understand the Chinese and Chinese culture have been quite effective. His book, “From the Soil, The Foundations of Chinese Society,” is recommended for many university students learning about China or Asia. This book deals with the difference between Chinese and Western societies.

As we have seen, Chinese anthropology has gone through a lot within the last 100 years. Despite the struggle for control between the Communist and those who are considered as “Capitalists,” anthropology in China has flowered into its own flavor—that being uniquely Chinese. Fei Hsiao Tung was instrumental in combining western anthropology with Chinese philosophy. In his book, The Saga of Anthropology in China: From Malinowski to Moscow to Mao, Gregory Eliyu Guldin describes the state of anthropological study in China. He states:

“Anthropology in China is at present neither a clone of any foreign anthropology nor a fully antonymous and self-defined discipline. In this respect the anthropological sciences reflect the state of the country, for China as a whole is vitally engaged in just such a struggle for independence and true autonomy. Anthropology as a discipline can shed light on Chinese society not only through its own tools of analysis but also through a careful reading of its own history in China, for disciplinary histories can reveal much about the society of which they are a part. Anthropology could thus once again, to paraphrase Clyde Kluckhohn, hold up a mirror to a people, this time the Chinese, and let them see themselves as they really are.”

I would like to end with a quote of his address at the 40th annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Denver, Colorado on March 21, 1980. He said:

“Applied anthropology as I understand it, is a science concerned with the transformation of human society through the knowledge of social sciences. And wasn’t this what I was after in the early years of my life? Science should serve mankind and is needed by man to help him survive and prosper . . . The question is, for whose benefit and for what purpose should social anthropology be used? If it is for the good of the people, for the common security and prosperity of the great majority, and hopefully even for mankind as a whole, if it is used for meeting their growing need for an ever better material and social life, then, and only then, can science be made to play its proper role in human history” (3).

[edit] Education

Fei received his sociological training at Yenching University and Tsinghua University, both in Beijing. He obtained his PhD from the University of London in the United Kingdom.

He taught at various universities in China and served in leading positions (Deputy President of the Institute of Central Nationalities, Deputy Director of the Institute of Nationalities of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Director of the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).

He helped found the Chinese Sociological Association which promotes sociological studies in China and was Honorary President of the Association before his death.

[edit] Works

  • Peasant Life in China 1939
  • From the Soil: the Foundations of Chinese Society
  • Earthbound China (co-author, 1943)
  • The Reproduction System (1947)
  • Rural Reconstruction (1948)
  • Fifty Years in the Field of Sociology (1983)
  • Essays on Sociology by FEI Hsiao-t'ung (1985)
  • On Small Towns and Other Issues (1986)
  • Frontier Development and the Social Survey (1987)
  • Essays on Ethnological Issues by FEI Hsiao-t'ung (1988)
  • On the Development of Rural Towns (1992)
  • Collected Works of FEI Hsiao-t'ung (14 volumes)(1999)

[edit] Awards

[edit] Politics

Fei also made significant contributions to the study and management of the development of China's rural economy.

Before his death, Fei held a number of political positions, although these are mostly honorary; he was considered by many to be "active politically".

which is part of the United Front led by the Communist Party of China

  • Deputy Director of the Experts Bureau of the State Council
  • Deputy Director of the National Ethnic Affairs Committee
  • Chairman of the Central Committee of the Democratic Union

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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