Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T18:06:52.162Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prison Management in the Kiangsi and Yenan Periods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Patricia Griffin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Recent studies on the origins of various Chinese Communist administrative techniques have revealed a striking continuity between present methods and the Communists' pre-1949 experiments in the Kiangsi Soviet (1927–34) and in the Border Regions of the north-west (1935–45).1 The Kiangsi and Yenan experiences are particularly vital to an under-standing of the Party's penal theories, since it was during the 1927–49 period that the Communists formulated their policies concerning release, leniency, production, democratic management, education and thought reform. Of particular interest is the gradual elaboration, during a war-time situation, of their controversial procedures of thought control or “ brainwashing.” While a description of the development of these policies from 1927–49 is interesting in itself, this article aims in addition to analyse how changes in technique were a response to environmental and political factors. It can be shown that prison policies varied in a direct relationship to the changing economic, political and military environment; consequently, the present penal policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot be understood without reference to their origin in the physical and psychological environment of Kiangsi and Yenan.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 58 , June 1974 , pp. 310 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. For examples see articles by Illpyong, Kim and Selden, Mark in Baraett, A.Doak (ed.), Chinese Communist Politics in Action ( Washington: University of Washington Press, 1969)Google Scholar; Also seeSchwarz, Henry, “The nature of leadership of the Chinese Communists 1930–45,” World Politics, 22 (1969/1970), pp. 541–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Eto, Shinkichi, “Hai-lu-feng: The first Chinese Soviet government,” The China Quarterly, No. 8 (1961), pp. 160–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar and No. 9 (1962), pp. 149–81 and Peter Seybolt, “The Yenan Revolution in mass education,” ibid. No. 48 (1971), pp. 641–69 .

2. Tai-hang ch'ü szu-fa kung-tso kai-k'uang (Report on General Situation of Judicial Work in Tai-hang ch'ü) (Tai-hang Administrative Office, 05 1946)Google Scholar; No details are given on who the authors may have been.

3. Shih-sou-shih kung-fei tzu-liao.

4. Ted-hang Report, p. 33.

5. “The circuit victory and the work experiences of the hsien judicial departments,” Hung-se Chiang-hsi (Red Kiangsi), 14 October 1932. In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.1052, 2123–2, 0817, reel 1.

6. “A review and discussion of the third joint meeting of Judicial Department directors in Po-sheng hsien,” 1933. In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.54105, 1732, 0658, reel 6.

7. Kiangsi Provincial Soviet Government, “Summary report of six months' work, May through October, of the Kiangsi Provincial Soviet Government,” 2 11 1932Google Scholar; In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.61026, 3119, 0269, reel 10.

8. “The People's Commissariat of Justice Directive No. 14 concerning the work of judicial organs,” dated 1 June 1933. In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.548, 3449, 0759, reel 6.

9. “One year's work of the People's Commissariat of Justice,” Hung-se Chunghua (Red China), 7 November 1932. In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.1052, 2125, v. 2, reel 16.

10. Kwei-chao, Chang, “Opening new land movement in the labor reformatories,” Hung-se Chung-hua, 3 04 1934Google Scholar; In the Shih-sou Collection, No. 008.1052, 2125, v. 6, 1937, reel 17.

11. “The People's Commissariat of Justice Directive No. 14,” p. 23.

12. “One year's work of the People's Commissariat of Justice.”

13. The term tzu-hsin is usually translated as one who has reformed himself into a new man. As the translation implies, it denotes one who has reformed or is in the process of reforming. However, in the Tai-hang Report the term seems to be used simply as a synonym for convict.

14. “Conciliation in civil cases and education in criminal cases,” Chieh-fang jih-pao (.Liberation Daily), 1 August 1946, p. 2.

15. “Directive from the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia High Court concerning each hsien's judicial work,” 10 May 1941. In K'ang-jih ken-chü-ti cheng-ts'e t'iao-li hui-chi, Shen-Kan-Ning chih-pu (Compendium of Policy Statements and Statutes of the Anti-Japanese Border Regions, Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Section), ShensiKansu-Ninghsia, Border Region Government, 18 07 1942, Vol. 3, p. 752Google Scholar;

16. Ibid. p. 753.

17. Ch'i Li, Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia pien-ch'ü shih-lu (A True Account of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region) (Liberation Press, 1939), p. 36Google Scholar;

18. “Life of a criminal in the High Court Prison,” Chieh-fang jih-pao (Liberation Daily), 16 January 1945, p. 4.

19. Ke, Tseng, “Prison in the Border Region is a school: Warden Tang Hungk'wei,” Hsin Hua jih-pao (New China Daily), 23 01 1945Google Scholar;

20. Vai-hang Report, p. 33.

21. The building was described as “old, out of repair. Wards dirty, ill-lighted and insanitary.… No provisions for sick and dietary was poor. The long-term prisoners mingled with the short-term offenders, many of them young, while neither was instructed or made to do any work.” See Heintzleman, P. S to MacMurray, , 13 08 1915Google Scholar; File No. 893.131/2, General Records of the Department of State, RG 59 (National Archives) .

22. Macsheny, to Bryan, , 23 03 1914, File No. 893.131/1, General Records of the Department of StateGoogle Scholar; RG 59 (National Archives). See also MacMurray to Secretary of State, 18 March 1926, File No. 893.131/13 .

23. Department of State, Report of the Commission on Extraterritoriality in China (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1926), p. 152Google Scholar;

24. Ibid. p. 103.

25. Ibid.

26. “The Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region Statute Protecting Human and Property Rights,” Art. 9, Chieh-fang jih-pao, 1 January 1942, p. 4.

27. Ibid. Art. 11.

28. Cohen, Jerome, The Criminal Process in the People's Republic of China 1949–1963: An Introduction (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press), p. 33Google Scholar;

29. Ch'i Li, Shensi-Kansu, p. 35.

30. Hsu, Yung Ying, A Survey of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1945), p. 82Google Scholar;

31. Guaranteeing allowed a criminal to be released before completing his sentence providing that a certain number of people would sign a guarantee for his behaviour. This practice, which followed a pre-modern example, had been temporarily suspended by the Communists in Kiangsi during the 1933–34 crisis period.

32. “Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region Government Directive No. 48,” dated 18 February 1944. Located in Compendium… Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia, Supplement, pp. 271–73.

33. Hsien-hsing fa-lii hui-chi (Compendium of Current Laws) (Administrative Committee of Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region, 1945), pp. 702–703Google Scholar;

34. This term differs from k'u-kung, ch'iang-p'o lao-tung and k'u-i which have all been translated “hard labour.” As in English, these terms signify forced punishments and have unfavourable connotations. Lao-i simply means “to do labour“ and is not accompanied by such a stigma.

35. Ch'i, Yang, “A preliminary discussion of the development of the people's criminal law during the new democratic stage,” Fa-hsüeh (Jurisprudence), Shanghai, No. 3, 1957, p. 44Google Scholar;

36. Vai-hang Report, p. 50.

37. Ibid. p. 51.

38. “Circular of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region Administrative Committee,” 16 February 1944. In Hsien-hsing fa-lü hui-chi, p. 696.

39. Rickett, W. Allyn, “Voluntary surrender and confession in Chinese law: the problem of continuity,” Journal of Asian Studies, 08 1971, p. 798Google Scholar;

40. “Separate statute of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region concerning voluntary surrender and confession of traitors,” Arts. 2, 3 and 4, in K'ang-jih ken-chü-ti cheng-ts'e t'iao-li hui-chi, Chin-Ch'a-Chi chih-pu (Compendium of Policy Statements and Statutes of the Anti-Japanese Border Regions, ShansiChahar-Hopei Section), pp. 458–60.

41. Ibid. Art 6.

42. “Directive from the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Area High Court,” p. 756.

43. Cohen, , Criminal Process, p. 41Google Scholar;

44. White Book on Forced Labour and Concentration Corps in the People's Republic of China (Commission Internationale Contre le Regime Concentrationnaire, 1954), p. 198Google Scholar;

45. “Directive from the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region High Court…,” p. 757.

46. Tai-hang Report, pp. 34–39.

47. “Decisions of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region government committee for criminals to participate in production,” Chieh-fang jih-pao, 7 May 1942, p. 2.

48. Chen, Chang, “Reformed persons trade school,” Chieh-fang jih-pao, 8 05 1944, p. 3Google Scholar;

49. T'ai-hang Report, p. 40.

50. “Circular of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region administrative committee,” p. 698.

51. “Decisions of the Shansi-Chahar-Hopei Border Region government committee for criminals to participate in production,” p. 2.

52. Chen, Chang, “Reformed persons trade school,” p. 3Google Scholar;

53. “Labour reforms criminals,” Chieh-fang jih-pao, 25 March 1946, p. 2.

54. “Transformation of an orphan,” Chieh-fang jih-pao, 1 August 1946, p. 2.

55. Chen, Chang, “Reformed persons trade school,” p. 3Google Scholar;

56. Hsien, Ning, “Prison work in Shansi-Chahar-Hopei,” Chieh-fang jih-pao, 8 05, 1944, p. 3Google Scholar;

57. Tai-hang Report, pp. 41–45.

58. “ Life of a criminal in the High Court prison.” Similar democratically-elected committees in a post-1949 prison were described by Father Tennien, Mark, No Secret is Safe (New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1952), p. 116Google Scholar;

59. Tai-hang Report, p. 41.

60. Ch'i Ii, Shensi-Kansu, p. 36.

61. “Directive from the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region High Court…,” p. 757.

62. Ibid.

63. Ch'i Li, Shensi-Kansu, p. 36.

64. “Life of a criminal in the High Court prison.”

65. SeeVogel, Ezra, “Voluntarism and social control,” in Treadgold, Donald W. (ed.), Soviet and Chinese Communism: Similarities and Differences (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967), pp. 168–84Google Scholar; Also seeMonro, Donald J., “The malleability of man in Chinese Marxism,” The China Quarterly, No. 48 (1971), pp. 609–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar;

66. See T'ai-hang Report, pp. 46–50.

67. For examples seeRigney, Harold, Four Years in a Red Hell (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1956)Google Scholar and Allyn, and Rickett, Adele, Prisoners of Liberation (New York: Cameron Associates, 1957)Google Scholar;

68. Ibid. p. 169.

69. Ibid. p. 200.

70. Lifton, Robert, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing (New York: Norton, 1961), p. 66Google Scholar;

71. Schein, Edgar, Coercive Persuasion (New York: Norton, 1961), pp. 176, 193Google Scholar;

72. Such an incident was related to Allyn Rickett while in a Chinese Communist prison and relayed to me in a recent conversation.

73. Rickett, and Rickett, , Prisoner of Liberation, p. 199Google Scholar;