Abstract:

All kinds of social conflicts in the rural area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces reached an apex in the late 1940s. The economic collapse intensified not only the confliction between various social strata but also the antagonism between rural society and state power. Facing the absence of elites in rural society, the failure in reconstruction of the local administrative system organized on a household's basis, and the power expansion of local despotic landlords and small-scale separatist regimes, the state power had to resort to military violence more frequently. However, all the state power's efforts failed to achieve an effective consolidation of rural societies and to hold back the disintegration of the social system in rural areas.

Key words: Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, rural area, social system