Rural Reconstruction Movement


The Rural Reconstruction Movement was started in China in the 1920s by Y.C. James Yen, Liang Shuming and others to revive the Chinese village. They strove for a middle way, independent of the Nationalist government but in competition with the radical revolutionary approach to the village espoused by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party.

History

Yen's Ting Hsien Experiment in Dingzhou, Hebei and Liang's school at Zouping, Shandong, were only the earliest and most prominent of hundreds of village projects, educational foundations, and government zones which aimed to change the Chinese countryside. After 1931 the Nanking government offered qualified support but also placed restrictions on the expansion of the work. American Christian missionaries gave their enthusiastic support. The Movement was prominent in building Chinese resistance to Japanese invasions by strengthening the village economy, culture, and political structure, including pioneering work in village health.
After the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Rural Reconstruction activists formed the Rural Reconstruction Party, at first an important part of the China Democratic League, but then were rendered politically irrelevant in the emerging war between the Chinese Communists and the Guomindang. In 1948, however, James Yen persuaded the American Congress to fund the Sino-American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. Before moving to Taiwan, the JCRR carried out the largest land reform project carried out in mainland China before 1949, as well as health and education projects. On Taiwan in the 1950s, the JCRR was key in laying the rural foundation for the quick economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s.
The rural reconstruction movement started by Dr. Yen continues to be active in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction headquarters is in the Philippines. IIRR celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2010.
In the 1990s, several academics and social reformers in China started a New Rural Reconstruction Movement, with stations at Ding County and Zouping.